I’m a transdisciplinary scholar-practitioner and strategic advisor operating at the intersection of critical geography, systems thinking and creative practice. Over more than two decades, my trajectory has evolved from directing strategic communication and social-impact design across Australia, New Zealand, and the UK into critical and practice-based research, and high-level advisory on complex issues. Today, I work across the boundary spaces of academia, public policy, and civil society, helping institutions and cross-sector teams navigate wicked problems, unpack complex human-environment relations, and translate high-level research into strategic frameworks.
My doctoral thesis, based at the Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research (University of Wollongong), investigated the lived, material, and philosophical realities of planetary disturbance. The research examined how human agency, institutions, and everyday practices must adapt when the ecological baselines of our world are fundamentally destabilised. This work directly informs my current interests with planetary risk, climate adaptation governance, and the socio-technical disruptions shaping modern decision-making environments.
My academic record spans research fellowships, and lecturing positions across leading universities in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. I have held teaching and research roles at the Swinburne University of Technology, Auckland University of Technology, and the University of Auckland – where I served as a Research Fellow co-leading a Marsden Fund-supported project investigating climate governance and artificial intelligence futures. My international institutional engagements also include a Visiting Research Fellowship at Goldsmiths, University of London, and research engagement through the Anthropocene Campus at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin.
My applied advisory and research practice is anchored in over two decades of leading complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives across the public sector, international NGOs, and independent consultancies. As founder and director of Antipode Studio and co-founder of Ecological Associates, I have directed strategic inquiry, systems mapping, and research translation for leading scientific bodies, think tanks, and public health organisations across Australasia and the UK. Internationally, as design manager at Christian Aid (UK), I led enterprise-scale brand architecture and public campaigning strategies across humanitarian contexts, translating complex development agendas into high-leverage engagement platforms. Within the public sector, as climate action specialist at Auckland Council, I led municipal resilience planning and facilitated participatory co-design frameworks grounded in mātauranga Māori to operationalise community-anchored climate adaptation. Across every engagement, my work bridges rigorous qualitative investigation with applied strategic design – translating institutional mandates, technical evidence, and diverse community perspectives into actionable policy frameworks, governance toolkits, and enduring public impact
My work deploys an integrated, practice-led toolkit designed to make sense of complex, non-linear challenges and build shared pathways forward. Methodologically, I draw on:
Critical and ethnographic enquiry: Qualitative field research, observation, and contextual synthesis to illuminate hidden assumptions and power dynamics.
Environmental humanities and more-than-human geographies: Relational frameworks that position ecological systems, material infrastructure, and non-human actors.
Complex systems and boundary mapping: Visualising interdependent socio-ecological dynamics to identify leverage points for systemic intervention.
Systemic co-design and cultural frameworks: Structured, participatory engagement models – integrating place-based insights and indigenous frameworks such as mātauranga Māori – to align diverse, competing stakeholder groups and build durable, collective ownership.
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