Environment and Technology

Program Co-Convenors: Associate Professor Charles Barbour and Dr Norma Lam-Saw

Photo by Professor Denis Byrne

Environmental crises now permeate and form all aspects of our lives. Addressing the impacts of climate change, environmental diminishment and more, researchers and practitioners work across disciplines to produce new analytical perspectives, methods and theories. These crises profoundly confront singular notions that technology will liberate humanity from planetary limits. By contrast, Indigenous leaders have long articulated and practiced the understanding that we are all connected through mutual co-dependencies.

Our research provides qualitative expertise on knowledge practices, culture and politics to help society navigate environmental crises, addressing issues of governance, accountability and institutional complexity in contexts of environment and technology. We pursue outcomes that are both sustainable and just, ensuring research impact through collaborative approaches with communities, government, scientists, Indigenous peoples, media practitioners and creative practitioners. Our expertise extends across a range of topics and conditions, including risk societies, equity, global action, new economies, heritage futures, environmental management, synthetic life, extreme environments and outer space. Our work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals 13, 15 and 16 concerning climate action, land and water health, biodiversity and institutional accountability.

Evidence of Research Concentration: This research includes projects that are situated at the intersection of environment and technology, ranging from studies of the Australian Space industry that follows from previous work on Antarctic futures in the face of climate change, bushfires and resilience, carbon and energy, the circular economy and the intensified focus upon collaboration and communication between HASS and STEM as part of a new node of the Centre of Excellence for Synthetic Biology.