People

Our staff are all internationally recognised for their research. Their interests encompass social science, humanities and environmental science, and approaches to understanding the complexities of human existence in a diverse and fast-changing world. Their many publications contain original contributions to theory, methodology and policy.

Director and Deputy Director

Dr David Curtis

Dr Christine Eriksen

Dr Charles Gillon

Professor Ross Gordon

Dr Gillian Gregory

Dr Laura Hammersley

Professor Lesley Head

Dr Anja Kanngieser

Dr Anna Lewis

Dr Elyse Stanes

Crystal Arnold

Thesis: What teachings are being shared by weeds? Learning from the Shoalhaven River
Supervisors: Dr Jennifer Atchison and Dr Anthony McKnight 


Janine Bailey

Thesis: The Art of Multispecies: Developing a sustainable art practice through care and collaboration.
Supervisors: Associate Professor Leah Gibbs & Dr Lucas Ihlein


Lizzie Buckmaster Dove

Thesis Title: Walking Back: Towards Geographies of Belonging
Supervisors: Dr Lucas Ihlein, Dr Chantel Carr, Dr Anthony McKnight


Laura Butler

Thesis: Peri-urban horticulture and biosecurity awareness and action
Supervisors: Associate Professor Jennifer Atchison and Associate Professor Natascha Klocker


Vanessa Cavanagh

Thesis: Aboriginal Women know: Cultural burning and Aboriginal women in NSW
Supervisors: Associate Professor Leah GibbsDr Laura Hammersley, Associate Professor Michael Adams


Freya Croft 

Thesis: Emotional Experiences of Coral Reefs - Can Embodied and Mediated Coral Reef Experiences have Conservation Outcomes? The Case of Ningaloo Reef
Supervisors: Associate Professor Michael Adams and Dr Jennifer Atchison


Diana Dawson

Thesis: Is sharing responsibility for invasive plant control enough?  How community and government can achieve collective impact for improved biodiversity outcomes in Australia.
Supervisors: Dr Sonia Graham and Associate Professor Nicholas Gill


Alexis Farr

Thesis: Fish Futures: Cultural Geographies of Freshwater Ecosystems
Supervisor: Associate Professor Leah Gibbs


Thomas Fisher

Thesis: Space for cycling?: Infrastructure and Embodied Experiences of Cyclists in an Australian Regional Centre
Supervisors: Professor Gordon Waitt and Professor Ian Buchanan


John Lahai

Thesis: Exploring diverse experiences of refugee settlement in regional Australia 
Supervisors: Associate Professor Natascha Klocker & Dr Olivia Dun


Natasha Larkin

Thesis: Renewable energy workers in regional Australia: A qualitative study of the Illawarra
Supervisors: Dr Chantel Carr and Associate Professor Natascha Klocker 


Marc Llewellyn

Thesis: An Examination of the Relationships that the People of Rarotonga have with Native and Non-Native Species; in order to Inform Conservation Strategy on the Island
Supervisors: Dr Jenny Atchison and Associate Professor Nicholas Gill


Craig Lyons

Thesis: Producing peripheral space: infrastructure, urban renewal, and social reproduction in Port Kembla, Australia
Supervisors: Professor Chris GibsonProfessor Pauline McGuirk and Dr Andrew Warren


Jennifer Macey

Thesis: Listening Geographies: Capturing Voices And Sounds In A Changing Industrial Landscape - How Podcasting Can Create A Living History
Supervisors: Professor Chris Gibson and Dr Chantel Carr


Teaniel Mifsud

Thesis: Exploring Perceptions and Policies Concerning Shark Mitigation on the East Coast of Australia
Supervisors: Dr Leah Gibbs and Dr Chris Brennan-Horley


Rachel Reimer

Thesis: The Long Winter: A comparative study of leadership, diversity and inclusion in the guiding and avalanche profession in Canada and New Zealand
Supervisors: Dr Christine Eriksen and Dr Andrew Warren


Leigh Robinson

Thesis: The highs and lows of the airport: volunteering in an intensely mobile space
Supervisors: Dr Thomas Birtchnell and Professor Peter Caputi


Inka Santala

Thesis: Sharing Cities: new strategies for communal sharing
Supervisors: Professor Pauline McGuirk and Professor Chris Gibson


Ville Santala 

Thesis: From experimentations to collaborative governance: The role and implications of experimentations in shaping Australian smart cities
Supervisors: Professor Pauline McGuirk and Dr Nicole Cook


Jennifer Smart

Thesis: Crossing Land, Social and Biosecurity Boundaries: Recreational Visitor Networks, Values, Practices and Knowledge and the Management of Weeds in the Kosciuszko Region
Supervisors: Associate Professor Nicholas Gill and Dr Leonie Miller


Makrita Solitei

Thesis: Managing Waste in Indigenous Communities Through a 3D Printing Centric Circular Economy
Supervisors: Dr Thomas Birtchnell and Dr Tillmann Boehme 


Alexandre York

Thesis: Enhanced Humans, Robotics and the Future of Work
Supervisors: Dr Thomas Birtchnell and Dr Tillmann Boehme


Melinda Young

Thesis: Landlines and Tracelines - topographies of place and the body in the field of Australian contemporary jewellery practice
Supervisors: Professor Chris Gibson and Dr Chantel Carr

2022

M. Abdul Malak

Thesis: Exploring the climatic and anthropogenic challenges to build livelihood vulnerability and resilience of Tanguar Haor in Bangladesh
Supervisors: Dr Jennifer Atchison, Professor Noel Castree and Associate Professor Natascha Klocker

Hilton Penfold

Thesis: Material Geographies of the Tiny House: Downsizing the 'Great Australian Dream' for Sustainability
Supervisors: Professor Gordon Waitt and Professor Pauline McGuirk

2021

Lance Barrie

Thesis: The embodied dimensions of endurance cycling and the formation of gendered cycling identities
Supervisors: Professor Gordon Waitt and Dr Chris Brennan-Horley

Kiera Kent 

Thesis: Children’s play encounters: materiality and more-than-human theory
Supervisors: Dr Leah Gibbs and Associate Professor Natascha Klocker

Carrie Wilkinson

Thesis: Beyond Mains Water: A study of households that are self-sufficient for water in regional NSW
Supervisors: Dr Leah Gibbs and Professor Gordon Waitt


Sophie-May Kerr 

Thesis: Living with children in apartments: sharing, materials and space
Supervisors: Associate Professor Natascha Klocker and Professor Chris Gibson

2020

Rebecca Campbell

Thesis: Food and kitchens as gendered household sustainability practice in Pacific Island migrant households
Supervisors: Professor Gordon Waitt and Associate Professor Nicholas Gill 


Ananth Gopal

Thesis: Growing cultures: cultivating culturally diverse ecological knowledge
Supervisors: Professor Lesley Head and Associate Professor Natascha Klocker


Shefali Juneja Lakhina

Thesis: Resilient together: engaging the knowledge and capacities of refugees for a disaster resilient Illawarra
Supervisors: Dr Christine Eriksen, Professor Noel Castree and Associate Professor Nicholas Gill


Razia Sultana

Thesis: Urban Green Infrastructure in the Global South: adapting slums to climate change in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Supervisors: Dr Thomas Birtchnell and Associate Professor Nicholas Gill

2019

Ren Hu

Thesis: Australian agricultural restructuring and formers responses: a case study of the Illawarra region, New South Wales
Supervisors: Associate Professor Nicholas Gill and Dr Andrew Warren 


Ryan Frazer

Thesis: The limits of care: lines, refrains, becomings
Supervisors: Professor Gordon Waitt and Professor Ian Buchanan


Stephanie Toole

Thesis: Climate change adaptation in culturally-diverse Australian households
Supervisors: Associate Professor Natascha Klocker and Professor Lesley Head


2018

Chantel Carr

Thesis: Maintenance and repair beyond the perimeter of the plant: materials, skills and household life in the industrial city
Supervisors: Professor Chris Gibson and Professor Lesley Head 


Susannah Clement

Thesis: Walking together: child and parent pedestrian mobilities in Wollongong City centre
Supervisors:  Professor Gordon Waitt and Professor Ian Buchanan


Shaun McKiernan

Thesis: Management, agency and belonging: exploring invasive plant management in high amenity rural areas
Supervisors: Associate Professor Nicholas Gill and Dr Jenny Atchison


Nick Skilton

Thesis: Privilege and marginalization in Australia’s national imaginary: constructions of mining and sex worker identities through technologies of power
Supervisors: Professor Chris Gibson and Dr Leah Gibbs  


Elyse Stanes

Thesis: Making space: young people’s routines of consumption and implications for the cultural economy of sustainability
Supervisors: Professor Chris Gibson and Associate Professor Natascha Klocker 


Alexander Tindale

Thesis: Contesting the urban myth of ethnic segregation
Supervisors: Dr Natascha KlockerDr Chris Brennan-Horley and Professor Chris Gibson 


Justin Westgate

Thesis: Responding to crisis: creative practices in volatile spaces
Supervisors: Professor Chris Gibson and Dr Anja Kanngieser