Meet the team

Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles

Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles

SEAE Research Leader; Executive Dean, Faculty of Education

Biography

Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles is a Professor of Sustainability, Environment and Education at Southern Cross University.  She is the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education and the Research Leader of the ‘Sustainability, Environment and the Arts in Education’ (SEAE) Research Centre. 

Research

Professor Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles’s research centres on climate change, childhoodnature, posthuman philosophy, and child-framed research methodologies. She is particularly focussed on the pivot points between climate, childhood, Country, and education. She has led over 40 national/international research projects and published more than 150 publications. Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles’s most recent book is entitled ‘Posthuman Research Playspaces: Climate Child Imaginaries’ (with Rousell, Routledge).

Other

Amy has been recognised for both her teaching and research excellence in environmental education, including an OLT Teaching Excellence Award, Citation and the Australian Association for Environmental Education Fellowship (Life Achievement Award) for her outstanding contribution to environmental education research. Amy is also the immediate past Editor in Chief of the Australian Journal of Environmental Education (Cambridge University Press).

Amy's research profile
Associate Professor Alexandra Lasczik

Professor Alexandra Lasczik

SEAE Research Co-Leader

Research Interests: Professor Lasczik's research is anchored in the integration of visual arts into education and practice. Her work explores themes of movement, climate change, philosophical inquiries, and interventions for youth at risk, employing a blend of painting, drawing, photography, poetry, walking inquiry, and creative writing.

Methodological Expertise: She is proficient in A/r/tography—a method blending art, research, and teaching to explore educational inquiries—and participatory, child-centred research methodologies. These approaches underscore her commitment to innovative and experiential learning and inquiry processes.

Industry Collaboration Interests: Professor Lasczik is interested in collaborating with educational institutions, environmental organizations, and community groups focused on youth engagement and climate action. Her interdisciplinary approach to visual arts and education positions her to contribute uniquely to partnerships that address pressing societal challenges.

Alexandra's research profile
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Professor Liz Mackinlay - Director of Higher Degree Research

Professor Liz Mackinlay is an eclectic scholar, having experience in Indigenous education, music ethnography and feminist issues.

Liz's research profile
Dr Erika Kerruish

Dr Erika Kerruish - Senior Lecturer

Biography: Erika completed her undergraduate studies in philosophy at the Australian National University and her doctorate in philosophy at the University of New South Wales.

Research: Erika's research examines sensory, affective and cultural aspects of our interactions with digitally driven technologies.

Teaching: Erika teaches cultural studies and core units in the Bachelor of Arts.

Erika's research profile
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Associate Professor Aspa Baroutsis - Chair of Discipline (Primary); Senior Lecturer; Academic Integrity Officer

Aspa Baroutsis is a senior lecturer, researcher, and Academic Integrity Officer in the Faculty of Education. She is known for her research in: media sociology, focused on portrayals of teachers, teaching, and schools across traditional print and social media; learning engagement and student voice across mainstream and alternative school settings; and digital pedagogies and school learning spaces that support student belonging and participation.

Aspa's research profile
Dr Mandy Hughes

Dr Mandy Hughes - Senior Lecturer

Biography: Mandy is a passionate and experienced teacher and social researcher with a commitment to encouraging a love of learning to foster social justice. She has more than a decade's experience working in higher education and has also worked in secondary schools, community and international development and in media, including working in television for ABC and SBS.

Research: Mandy's research interests include refugee studies, creative arts, social inequalities, regional communities, visual and collaborative research methods, food studies, and international development effectiveness.

Community Engagement: Mandy has engaged in research partnerships with community organisations, including a long-term collaboration with Anglicare North Coast. She has been appointed to the Multicultural NSW Regional Advisory Council and has been a member since 2016.

Mandy's research profile
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Dr Gregory P Smith - Senior Lecturer

Biography

Gregory is an academic, social researcher and author. He has been with Southern Cross University since 2007. He completed his PhD in 2016 which focused on the issues faced by adults who experienced out-of-home care. He now lectures in the Social Sciences.

Research

Understanding disadvantage in society is always a challenge. Gregory's research investigates the most socially disadvantaged in our society - the homeless and vulnerable. He also explores issues such as shame, stigma and identity in these populations using methodologies within the qualitative paradigm.

Gregory's research profile
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Dr Olivera Kamenarac - Senior Lecturer

Olivera Kamenarac is a senior lecturer at the School of Education at Southern Cross University, Gold Coast Campus in Queensland, Australia. Her teaching, research, and scholarship intersect feminist poststructuralist and posthumanist philosophies of subject formation and subjectivities in educational contexts across different countries. She is particularly focused on challenging local and global policies, structures, and systems that (re)produce inequalities and injustices for both human and non-human be(com)ings.

Olivera's research profile
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Dr Tracy Young - Post Grad Course Coordinator (Melbourne Campus) Early Childhood Education and Care; Senior Lecturer

Biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Southern Cross University and the Course Coordinator for Early Childhood Programs at the Melbourne Campus. With over 30 years of experience as an environmental educator and early childhood teacher, my career spans roles as a researcher and tertiary educator in Initial Teacher Education.

Research

My research focuses on child-animal relations, environmental education, and childhood studies, addressing themes of education and multispecies interactions amidst challenging ecological times. My PhD was an intergenerational inquiry with children, parents, grandparents and the animals in their family home and the early childhood setting the children attended. Being able to integrate early childhood education, environmental education, and human-animal studies through a critical posthuman and post-qualitative lens has contributed to broader understandings of early childhood education in relation to both human and non-human entities.

I am available to supervise Masters and Doctoral projects in early childhood education, environmental education, multispecies inquiry, and related ‘post’ theories and methodologies.

Tracy's research profile
Associate Professor Adele Wessell

Associate Professor Adele Wessell

Biography

Adele Wessell is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Southern Cross University.

Research

Adele's research is in the field of Environmental History. She has published on food as communication, nonhuman animals and tastescapes as an expression of the impact of eating on land use. Most of her work is focussed on the Northern Rivers, particularly the history of agriculture and the Richmond River. She has a particular interest in regional and community archives and climate change.

Community engagement

Adele has a scholarly interest and commitment to community engagement and community engaged learning and research.

Adele's research profile
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Dr Simone Blom - Primary Education Course Coordinator, MTeach; Lecturer

Research interests: Environmental education; Science education; STEM teaching and learning; Teacher education; Creative and innovative research methodologies; Pedagogy.

Methodology: Ethnography (autoethnography and diffractive ethnography). Qualitative and transqualitative methodologies.

Industry partners: Interested in partnering with Dept. of Education, Science teachers associations, Environmental education associations and science academies.

Simone's research profile
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Dr Liberty de Rivera - Vice-Chancellor Research Fellowship

Research interests: Dr Liberty de Rivera is a Vice-Chancellor Research Fellow in the Faculty of Education. Her research interests include analysing and evaluating policies and their implementation in the areas of education for sustainable development, climate change, and disaster risk reduction. Central to her research is the idea of cognitive justice—what, or whose knowledge, is emphasised or neglected in the process of policy transfer.

Methodology: Dr Liberty de Rivera is a Vice-Chancellor Research Fellow in the Faculty of Education. Her research interests include analysing and evaluating policies and their implementation in the areas of education for sustainable development, climate change, and disaster risk reduction. Central to her research is the idea of cognitive justice—what, or whose knowledge, is emphasised or neglected in the process of policy transfer.

Industry partners: Dr Liberty de Rivera is a Vice-Chancellor Research Fellow in the Faculty of Education. Her research interests include analysing and evaluating policies and their implementation in the areas of education for sustainable development, climate change, and disaster risk reduction. Central to her research is the idea of cognitive justice—what, or whose knowledge, is emphasised or neglected in the process of policy transfer.

Liberty's research profile
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Dr Sarah Crinall - Lecturer

Dr Sarah Crinall is a Lecturer of science childhoods, place-based relational philosophies of education and art-based methodologies. Sarah's scholarly interests are in the power of the practical, the ethical and the 'everyday' and the informal learning ecologies that we live with as families and communities. Her focus is on the concept of sustenance in education, right now, during life in early years motherhood.

Sarah's research profile
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Dr Katie Hotko - Honours Course Coordinator; Lecturer

Katie Hotko is an Associate Lecturer in Creative Arts in Initial Teacher Education. Her PhD thesis is titled "We make art and it makes us: An A/r/tographic exploration of generalist primary teachers’ creative self-beliefs." Katie is an active member of the Sustainability, Environmental, and the Arts in Education (SEAE) Research Centre, the First Year Coordinator and Honours Course Coordinator. Katie's passion lies in democratizing the arts, striving to make them inclusive and accessible to all.

Katie's research profile
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Dr Laura Rodrigues Castro - Vice-Chancellor Senior Research Fellow

Research interests: Dr. Rodriguez Castro's research delves into Southern knowledges, focusing on decoloniality and feminisms. She explores radical pedagogies, climate justice, rurality, and studies of memory and migration. 

Methodology: She is adept in arts-based, visual, and participatory research methodologies, contributing significantly to methodological discourses. 

Industry partners: Dr. Rodriguez Castro seeks collaboration with activist groups, public pedagogy entities, non-profits, and arts organisations to extend her research's impact.

Laura's research profile
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Dr Lisa Siegel - Lecturer

Lisa Siegel is a skilled environmental educator with over 20 years’ experience in developing and facilitating educational experiences for children, young people, and adults, having worked in both public and independent schools in three different countries.

Lisa's research profile
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Dr Helen Widdop Quinton - Research Associate

Helen is an experienced secondary teacher and environmental educator. Her early career as a science, biology and health teacher eventually lead to working with community and non-government organisations (Landcare, Greening Australia, Victorian Schools’ Garden Awards) as an environmental/sustainability educator, where she has been involved in curriculum writing and project management as well as supporting schools with environmental projects.

Helen's research profile
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Dr Chantelle Bayes - Research Associate

Research interests: Dr Chantelle Bayes is a creative writer and researcher interested in multi-species communities, posthumanism, contemporary and Australasian literature, the philosophy of knowledge-making, and the environmental humanities. Much of her research examines urban entanglements and how imaginaries operate in understandings of urban nature as well as how imaginaries can help us to rethink the way we live with cities as more-than-human places. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy-UK. 

Methodology: Arts-based methods; research creation; ecophenomenology; econarratology; non-representational methods; ecocriticism; place based and embodied research/praxis.

Industry partners: Interested in partnering with organisations who are working to improve care for the more-than-human and use creative arts approaches to environmental care/education. I am particularly interested in working to improve the way we live in urban areas to support ecological and social justice.

Chantelle's research profile
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Dr Yaw Ofosu-Asare - Research Associate

Research Interests: Yaw's research interests revolve around decolonisation, African philosophy, design education, and cultural narratives. His research explores integrating indigenous identities and traditional methodologies into African design education curricula, critiquing colonial influences and advocating for culturally authentic, community-driven pedagogies.

Methodological Expertise: Ofosu-Asare employs postcolonial theory, storied ethnography, autoethnography, arts-based, and participatory research methods to navigate postcolonial experiences, unpack complexities of decolonisation in education, and integrate creative practices and community engagement.

Industry Collaboration Interests: He seeks collaborations in design, education, and technology, exploring the intersection of indigenous knowledge systems and design practices to develop culturally relevant, sustainable curricula education systems. Partnerships with digital literacy initiatives focused on enhancing online learning environments and user experience through design principles are also of interest.

Yaw's research profile
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Ms Adrienne (Adi) Brown

Casual Academic (Teaching)

Adrienne (Adi) Brown is a visual artist and has been lecturing in Creative Technologies for over 15 years in Aotearoa and more recently in China. She is currently a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education exploring what walking methodology brings to visual arts practice and pedagogy in higher education.

Dr Aidan Coleman

Dr Aidan Coleman

Senior Lecturer

Dr Aidan Coleman is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and also teaches in the Associate Degree of Creative Writing. His research and scholarship spans Australian literature, Shakespeare, poetry, ecocriticism and creative writing. He is the co-author of a series of Shakespeare textbooks and his poetry volumes have been shortlisted for national literary awards. Aidan has extensive experience as a secondary English and history teacher, and faculty coordinator.

Dr Lynda Hawryluk

Dr Lynda Hawryluk

Course Coordinator Associate Degree of Creative Writing

Lynda is a practising writer and qualified secondary English teacher. She lectures and teaches in writing units focused on writing and reading practices, poetry for advanced level students.

Maia Osborn

Dr Maia Osborn

Research Assistant

Maia is deeply passionate about place-responsive pedagogies as a means to cultivate environmental consciousness and ecological understanding.

Dr Kate Steele

Dr Kate Steele

Associate Lecturer

Dr Steele's research interests include creative writing practice and creative writing practice in Education; the gothic; Australian literature and gender studies. She writes contemporary mystery and crime novels, often with a dash of the gothic and predominantly local settings that tap into both the whacky sense of humour and darker undercurrents, in Australian life.

Ben Roche, Human Geographer portrait

Ben Roche

Human Geographer

As a human geographer, Ben Roche is passionate about participatory approaches to sustainable development and the role that education and engagement can play in creating resilience, capacity and well-being in communities. He has taught, researched and practised in the areas of community-based learning, participatory planning, sustainable development and community engagement.

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Adjunct Professor Rita Irwin

Adjunct Professor

Rita Irwin is an artist, researcher, and teacher deeply committed to the arts and education. Her research interests have spanned in-service art education, teacher education, socio-cultural issues, and curriculum practices across K-12 and informal learning settings.

Adjunct Keith Skamp

Adjunct Professor Keith Skamp

Adjunct Professor

Keith Skamp's areas of specialisation are science and environmental/sustainability education and research methodology and Keith lectured in undergraduate and graduate units for many years in these areas. Keith was involved in the professional development of primary and secondary teachers at state, national and international levels for many years.

David Rousell

Dr David Rousell

Adjunct Researcher

David Rousell began his career as an internationally-recognised artist before moving into academia to further pursue his teaching and research interests. David brings 20 years of professional experience as an interdisciplinary artist to his academic roles, including exhibitions, installations, performances and film screenings in public galleries and performance spaces all over the world.

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Adjunct Associate Professor Kim Snepvangers

Adjunct Professor

Kim Snepvangers (PFHEA) is an Adjunct Professor at Southern Cross University and a leader in creative ecologies, partnerships and arts-based research practice, with a particular interest in working with Cultural Mentors in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies.

Dr Marianne Logan

Adjunct Senior Lecturer Marianne Logan

Adjunct Senior Lecturer

Marianne's approach to research (and teaching) is to interrogate and advance socioecology and posthumanism within a science education context, where classical science education is disrupted, and new paradigms are promoted, within the current critical period surrounding climate change.

Dr Angela Turner

Adjunct Senior Lecturer Angela Turner

Adjunct Senior Lecturer

Angela Turner's research is positioned under the umbrella of Design and Technologies education, specifically food education, sustainability and food innovation research (regional foods and food education research).

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Adjunct Associate Professor Judith Wilks

Adjunct Associate Professor

With a Geography background, Judith Wilks worked for many years as an Environmental Planner. Judith’s current research interests include successful transitions to higher education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, online teaching methodologies in higher education, active environmental education approaches such as child-friendly cities, and participatory methodologies for children and young people.

Marilyn Ahearn

Adjunct Lecturer Marilyn Ahearn

Adjunct Lecturer

Marilyn is an Adjunct Lecturer at SCU. She has extensive experience in primary education, including participation and leadership in environmental education initiatives. Marilyn completed her PhD at SCU and continues to collaborate in writing projects as a member of the ‘Sustainability, Environment, the Arts in Education’ (SEAE) Research Cluster. She is committed to researching and promoting a universal deep-time story through environmental education and transdisciplinary-based learning.

Tracey Bunda portrait

Adjunct Professor Tracey Bunda

Adjunct Professor

Professor Bunda has an outstanding track record of teaching and research, specialising in the areas of Indigenous education and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies. Her career in universities expands over 3 decades during which time she has held senior Indigenous leadership roles which have focused on the building the profile of Indigenous education. T

External Associates

Ms Elisabeth Barratt Hacking

University of Bath

Ms Hacking’s research interests relate to childhood and environment and children’s participation and she has published widely in the fields of environmental education and education for sustainability. She has been involved in numerous educational research, evaluation and development projects for many years, mostly with schools, students, teachers and leaders.

Dr Sally Birdsall

The University of Auckland

Before her appointment as a Lecturer in Primary Science, Sally taught at various intermediate schools in Years 7 and 8 and in primary schools from Years 1 to 6. She has always been interested in science and while teaching was responsible for science in schools. As part of Sally's Master of Education, she completed a research project into an aspect of environmental education.

Dr Ali Black

University of the Sunshine Coast

Dr Ali Black is an innovative arts-based and narrative researcher. Her research and scholarly work seeks to foster connectedness, community, wellbeing and meaning-making through the building of reflective and creative lives and identities. Ali is a highly regarded early childhood specialist who lectures into the Education Programs at USC.

Professor Susan Edwards

Australian Catholic University

Professor Susan Edwards is Director of the Early Childhood Futures research program in the Institute for Learning Sciences & Teacher Education, Australian Catholic University. Her group investigates the role of play-based learning in the early childhood curriculum for the 21st century.

Mr David Sobel

Antioch University of New England

Mr Sobel was co-founder of the Harrisville Children’s Centre in Harrisville, New Hampshire, and has served as a publicly elected school board member in Nelson and Harrisville, New Hampshire. He has served as a staff development and science curriculum consultant to schools in New Hampshire and Vermont and has been a guest speaker and workshop leader for a variety of school and environmental organisations.

Professor Margaret Somerville

Western Sydney University

Professor Somerville is Professor of Education and the Director of the Centre for Educational Research in University of Western Sydney's School of Education. She is also the Chair of the Greater Western Sydney chapter of the United Nations Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (one of only four in Australia).

Dr Peta White

Deakin University

Dr White has been a long-term activist in the environmental education field. She is currently a member of the Australian Association of Environmental Education (AAEE). She is a life-time member (and past president) of the Saskatchewan Outdoor and Environmental Education Association (SOEEA) and winner of the 2011 Melanson Award for Outstanding Contributions to Environment and Outdoor Education.

Professor Dilafruz Williams

Portland State

Dilafruz Williams, PhD, is a professor of Leadership for Sustainability Education. She has authored more than 50 chapters, journal articles, and curriculum resource guides and has given more than 100 invited lectures, symposia, and/or conference papers.

Associate Professor Sandra Wooltorton

University of Notre Dame

Sandra comes from Noongar country in South West Western Australia. She joined Notre Dame University as Director of Nulungu Research Institute in January, 2015. Sandra has worked at different times as a teacher, an education officer, and a lecturer/researcher in WA and the NT.