Introduction
A Professor of Geography, my own research is motivated by trying to understand the conditions in which people flourish in place, in their movements, in daily life, and over the life-course. In 2021, I was honoured to be the Institute of Australian Geographers’ recipient of the Griffith Taylor Medal in recognition of distinguished contributions to Geography in Australia.
I was Head of the School of Geography and Environmental Studies from mid-2005 to the end 2013; inaugural Director of the Peter Underwood Centre for Educational Attainment from mid-2015 to April 2017; and a research professor in the Institute for the Study of Social Change from April 2017 to December 2019. I returned to the College of Sciences and Engineering in January 2020 to lead first the School of Technology, Environments and Design and then the three Schools that have been created from STED in 2021.
Prior to coming to the University of Tasmania, I taught at University of New South Wales (Canberra) and before then was engaged in casual teaching and doctoral research at the University of Adelaide, where my PhD was awarded without amendment. I began my academic career at 22 as a tutor in geography at Flinders University, where I was awarded the University Medal and a first class honours degree, having majored in geography and visual art history and theory.
See https://www.utas.edu.au/profiles/staff/cose-ted/elaine-stratford for more information.
Expert
I have over 25 years’ experience in leadership, management, and administration; research and research training and supervision; learning and teaching; and engagement and have worked for the University of Tasmania since December 1996.
I have been involved in over 55 separate collaborations with researchers from diverse fields around the world, as well as with members of regional and island communities. These collaborations represent important links with scholars, policy-makers, and members of civil society concerned with social, cultural, geopolitical, and environmental questions intended to improve quality of life.
I have published widely in books, edited collections, journal articles, commissioned reports, essays, and editorials; am editor-in-chief of Geographical Research, an international journal published by Wiley for the Institute of Australian Geographers; serve on several editorial boards; have a strong supervisory track record; and have extensive leadership and management experience in higher education.
Fields of expertise: Culture, Education, Environmental policy / climate change, Health and wellbeing, Social change / social transformations, Urban development