Presenter Bios


Our Dean

Professor Kevin Dunn

Professor Kevin Dunn, University of Western SydneyKevin is the Dean of the School of Social Science and Psychology and Professor in Human Geography and Urban Studies. He commenced this position in May 2008. He was formerly at the University of NSW (1995–2008), and the University of Newcastle (1991–1995). His areas of research include: immigration and settlement; Islam in Australia; the geographies of racism; and local government and multiculturalism. He teaches cultural and social geography, migration and urban studies. Recent books include Landscapes: Ways of Imagining the World (2003) and Introducing Human Geography: Globalisation, Difference and Inequality (2000). Kevin is a graduate of Cambridge Park High School in western Sydney.

Meet the Presenters

Geography Presenters

Case Study Presenters

Dr Jenna Condie

Jenna Condie Jenna is a Lecturer in Digital Research and Online Social Analysis at Western Sydney University. With psychology as a base, she traverses a range of disciplines, residing in the Anthropology and Sociology workgroup and the Urban Research Program, while teaching cyberpsychology and digital research methods across the Psychology and Social Sciences disciplines. Jenna co-leads the Travel in the Digital Age (TinDA) project, which examines the intersections of travel/transport, technology and mobile lives.

Place and identity act as core threads in her research on cyber-urban lives and the role of digital technologies in the places that people live, work, play, and stay. Current projects include understanding the role of humans as ‘sensors’ for safer, ‘smarter’, socially sustainable cities; scholar-activist work on connective forms of resistance to urban redevelopment and the displacement of low-income households; and research focused on how location-aware smartphone dating apps are reworking our most intimate relationships of all.

Jenna is passionate about curriculum development, technology-enhanced learning, enterprise education, and digital literacies. She co-designed the Bachelor of Entrepreneurship (Games Design and Simulation), the Bachelor of Cybersecurity and Behaviour, and the specialisation in Digital Research and Social Data Analytics (Master of Social Science).

Prior to joining Western Sydney University, Jenna was a Lecturer in Psychology within the Media Psychology team at the University of Salford (UK). Jenna commenced her academic career at Salford with the Sustainable Housing and Urban Studies Unit (SHUSU). She completed her EPSRC-funded PhD in Environmental Psychology on resident experiences of living alongside railways and the importance of place and identity in making sense of 'disruption'.

Jenna is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Salford (UK) and World Social Science Fellow on transformations to sustainability in urban contexts with the International Social Science Council.

Dr Felicity Picken

Dr Felicity Picken is a lecturer in tourism and heritage within the School of Social Sciences and Psychology. She has a number of research strengths including post-industrial urban regeneration with a focus on heritage, urban design and architecture, lifestyle migration, the beach as a transformative place and the social and cultural coordinates of tourism. All of her research is underpinned by the principles of social and environmental sustainability.

Her recent work develops what she calls ‘blue sociology’, a programme of research that is dedicated to understanding the legacies and futures of living with a ‘blue planet’. Many of these oceanic relationships are formed through the increasingly vast and diverse array of popular encounters with oceanic space. These include interventions in leisure, tourism, heritage-making, arts, media and the cultural industries. In the twenty-first century, and its reshaping of human-nature relations, oceanic space is presented as an important sphere of human action, a formidable shaper of further action and a critique of the limits of human-centric ontologies.

Felicity is a member of the Australian Sociological Association, the Australasian Cultural Studies Association and the Critical Tourism Studies Association and is the review editor for Tourist Studies (Sage). Her teaching includes the sociology of tourism, heritage and tourism and interpreting natural and cultural spaces.

Dr Sebastian Pfautsch

Dr Sebastian Pfautsch is a Senior Research Fellow at Western Sydney University. In 2007, Sebastian received his PhD (summa cum laude) in forest ecosystem science from the University of Freiburg, Germany. In his research he investigates the effects of global change and extreme climate evens on plant and ecosystem functioning. In his role as Research Theme Fellow he applies his knowledge to urban ecosystems to reveal the potential of trees to mitigate effects of global warming. Sebastian uses his research to inform government agencies, politicians, industry and the public how to ‘future-proof’ today’s management of urban green infrastructure.

Sharon McLean

Sharon McLeanSharon has taught in a variety of boys and girls secondary schools teaching History and Geography and has been at Saint Ignatius' College for thirteen years and the Head of Geography for ten years. During her teaching career she has been the Convener of the NSW Catholic Trial Examination Committee and also a member of the Geography Teachers Council where she has also held the position of Vice-President. Sharon has received the Geography Teachers Association Brock Rowe Award for teaching and the NSW Professional Teachers Council award for services to Geography. Sharon is a graduate of Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta, in western Sydney.

Other Presenters

Dr Garth Lean

Garth LeanGarth Lean is a Lecturer in Geography and Urban Studies in the School of Social Sciences and Psychology at Western Sydney University. He researches travel, tourism and new technologies, and is the co-lead of ‘Travel in the Digital Age’ (TinDA – www.tindaproject.com), an interdisciplinary group of researchers working at the intersections of mobile lives and technology. Garth’s current research interests include:

  • Travel, tourism and digital technology (including VR, AR, smartphones, location tracking)
  • Tourist/traveller experiences and personal transformation
  • Digital geography
  • Digital research (including creative and innovative methodologies)
  • Equitable mobilities in urban and regional places
  • Smart transport interventions
  • Asian and Chinese tourists/travellers/migrants
  • Sexual racism and gendered encounters on location-aware social apps

Garth is the School of Social Science and Psychology’s Student Transitions, Achievement, Retentions and Success (STARS) Academic Coordinator, and a Vice President of The Geographical Society of New South Wales.

Society and Culture Presenters

Case Study Presenters

Dr John McGuire

Dr John McGuire, University of Western SydneyJohn is a lecturer in sociology. John's research background is in analysing popular culture to explore the ideologies, values and norms that are consciously and unconsciously reinforced and challenged in everyday popular culture. His thesis was concerned with analysing superhero comic books to explore the way that the American Dream is used as ideology supporting hegemony in American society. His works showed that the American Dream was used throughout the George W Bush presidency to justify the invasions of the Middle East post 9/11 and defend American domestic policy, but then was also used as part of the Obama election campaign in political opposition. His research showed that superhero comic books, like other forms of popular culture, are able to both reinforce the dominant hegemony, but can also challenge dominant political ideologies and movements. John has been working to expand this methodology to other forms of popular culture such as movies and popular music. John's research has lead him to become interested in the narratives about national ideology and history that are part of the present day political discourse and explorations of the different and opposing understandings of the concept of multiculturalism in the world today.

Dr Helena Onnudottir

Dr Helen OnnudottirDr Helena Onnudottir is a lecturer in Anthropology in the School of Social Sciences and Psychology at Western Sydney University. Special research areas include Aboriginal Australia, Indigenous spiritualities, religious and traditional changes and Aboriginal/Indigenous rights to land and culture. Current research interests include social and cultural transformation, and ontological and moral discourses in contemporary Iceland. Co-author of Possamai A. Onnudottir, H. and Turner B. (2013), Religious Change and Indigenous Peoples:  The making of religious identities, London: Ashgate Publishing.

Assoc Prof Mary Hawkins

Dr Mary HawkinsMary Hawkins is a social anthropologist and currently Associate Professor and Director of Academic Programs (Sociology, Criminology, Peace and Anthropology) for the School of Social Sciences and Psychology. Dr Hawkins teaches and researches in the areas of religious and ethnic diversity in Southeast Asia; cultural traditions of Islam in Indonesia (specifically in Kalimantan); and globalisation and difference (ethnic, religious, national). Her field research area is Indonesia, specifically southern Kalimantan. Her recent publications include Global Structures, Local Cultures (Oxford University Press 2013).

Professor Kerry Robinson

Professor Kerry Robinson, University of Western SydneyProf Robinson is in the School of Social Sciences and Psychology and in the Sexualities and Genders Research Network. Her research interests focus on childhood studies; diversity, equity and social justice issues in educational contexts; constructions of gendered and sexualised identities; sexual harassment; constructions of childhood and sexuality; and sexuality education. Prof Robinson currently lectures in sociology, constructions of childhood, cultural diversity and difference, and contemporary debates in the social sciences. Prof Robinson is currently the Australian/New Zealand Associate Editor for the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE) and an Editor of the Journal of Sociology (JoS). She is an invited reader/expert on the Australian Research Council. She is the recipient of a Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning Award for her innovative curriculum and transformative pedagogies that inspire and motivate students to learn, and scholarly research that enhances learning and teaching. She also received a NSW Minister for Education and Training and The Australian College of Educators Quality Teaching Award, a university Vice Chancellor's Teaching Excellence Award, as well as a university College of Arts Citation Award for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. Kerry has published widely on her research, including her recent book, Innocence, Knowledge and the construction of childhood: The contradictory relationship between sexuality and censorship in children's contemporary lives (2013, Routledge, London); a co-edited collection Rethinking school violence (Saltmarsh, Robinson and Davies, 2012, PalgraveMacmillan, London) and a co-authored book, Diversity and Difference in Early Childhood Education: Issues for Theory and Practice (Robinson & Jones Diaz, 2006, Open University Press) - a second edition of this latter book is currently being written and will be published by McGraw-Hill in 2015.

HSC Society and Culture Teacher Presenter

David Hanslow

Mr David Hanslow teaches Society and Culture at St Mary's Senior High School. He has been teaching Society and Culture since 1989, and marked HSC exams in the field for the whole period. He was a senior marker for seven years, a member of the Society and Culture Teacher's Association Management Committee for five years and has presented at various student and teacher days. For the past five years he has also been a Lecturer in Society and Culture method.

Other Presenters

Dr Geir Henning Presterudstuen

Dr Geir Henning Presterudstuen, University of Western Sydney

Geir is social anthropologist and early career fellow at the School of Social Sciences and Psychology. He has conducted long-term ethnographic research in Fiji since 2009, and has published several journal articles and book chapters on his main research interests which include economic anthropology, post-colonialism and processes of ethnic and gendered self-identification at the interface of notions of tradition and modernity in Pacific communities. His most recent publication, Monster Anthropology in Australasia and Beyond (co-edited with Yasmine Musharbash) was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2014.

No results were found