Lecturer
Human Geography, Environmental Politics and Sustainability
Phone: +61 2 6125 0348
Fax: + 61 (0)2 6125 0746
E-mail: kersty.hobson@anu.edu.au

Kersty studied Anthropolgy for both her BA Hons (Durham University, UK) and MPhil (University of Cambridge). After a few years of public sector work and travel, she undertook a PhD in Geography at University College London, where her research focussed on household sustainable consumption and environmental politics. Since completing her PhD in 2001 she has held academic positions at both the University of Birmingham (UK) and The Australian National University.

Professional Activities

Editorial board for the journals Geoforum and Sustainability: Science, Policy and Practice (see http://ejournal.nbii.org): a member of the ANU Delegated Research Ethics Committee.

Current Research Interests

Kersty’s current research explores the role that diverse forms of public participation can and do have in addressing the challenges of creating sustainable futures in Australia and beyond. In particular, she is part of an inter-disciplinary research team, working on an ARC Discovery Award (DP0879092) entitled ‘Social Adaptation to Climate Change in the Australian Public Sphere: A comparison of individual and group deliberative responses to scenarios of future climate change’. Her contribution to this project, in collaboration with the Centre for Deliberative Democracy at the ANU , is an interest in theories and practices of constituting and sustaining new publics in the face of climate change.

Teaching

Within ANU

• ENVS1008 Contemporary Issues in Asia and Australia: An Introduction to Social Theory and Practice
• ENVS2013 Environment and Development: Exploring Interactions through Theory and Practice
• Supervises students undertaking Independent Research Project ENVS3010 and Honours projects.

External to ANU

Kersty is one of the international scholars invited to teach on the new E-Learning 'Course Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation (310069)' run by the University of Copenhagen.

Postgraduate Supervision:

Kersty now jointly supervises 8 PhD scholars within the ANU on topics such as diverse economies and food; design, social science and sustainability; and the anthropology of faith-based NGOs. Topics of interest for PhD supervision include issues of environmental governance at local, national and international levels; sustainable consumption; public participation and education; and post-structural engagements with the ‘more than human’. Past PhD topics supervised include education and sustainability in Bali; and the practices of a Human Rights NGO in Thailand.

Key Publications

Hobson, K. (2008) Reasons to be cheerful: thinking (sustainably) in a climate changing world. Geography Compass 2 (1): 199-214

Hobson, K. (2007) So we are all environmentalists now? (editorial) Geoforum 38(6): 546-548

Hobson, K. (2007) Political animals? On animals as subjects in an enlarged political geography. Political Geography 26 (3): 250-267

Hobson, K. (2006) Environmental psychology and the geographies of ethical and sustainable consumption: aligning, triangulating, challenging? Area 38(3): 292-300

Hobson, K. (2006) Bins, bulbs and shower timers: on the ‘techno-ethics’ of sustainable living, Ethics, Place and Environment 9(3): 335-354

Hobson, K. (2006) Enacting environmental justice in Singapore: performative justice and the Green Volunteer Network, GeoForum 37 (5): 671-681

Hobson, K. (2006) Environmental responsibility and the possibilities of pragmatist-orientated research, Social and Cultural Geography 7(2): 283-298

Niemeyer, S., Petts, J., and Hobson, K. (2005) Rapid climate change and society; assessing responses and thresholds, Risk Analysis 25(6): 1443-1456

Hobson, K. (2005) Considering ‘green’ practices: NGOs and Singapore’s emergent environmental-political space, Sojourn 20(2): 155-176

Hobson, K. (2004) Sustainable consumption in the United Kingdom: the ‘responsible’ consumer and government at ‘arm’s length’, Journal of Environment and Development 10 (3): 121-139

Hobson, K. (2004) Researching ‘sustainable consumption’ in Asia-Pacific cities, Asia Pacific Viewpoint 45 (2): 279-288

Hobson, K. (2004) ‘Say no to the ATO’: the cultural politics of protest against the Australian Tax Office, Social Movement studies 3 (1): 51-71

Hobson, K. (2003) Consumption, Sustainability and Geography in Australia: A missing research agenda?, Australian Geographical Studies 41 (2): 148-155

Hobson, K. (2003) Thinking Habits into Action: the role of knowledge and process in questioning household consumption practices, Local Environment 8 (1): 95-112

Burgess, J., Bedford, T., Hobson, K., Davies, G. and & Harrison, C.M. (2003) (Un)sustainable consumption. In M. Leach, F Berkhout, and I Scoones (Eds.) Negotiating Environmental Change: New Perspectives from Social Science. London; Edward Elgar: 261-291

Hobson, K. (2002) Competing Discourses of Sustainable Consumption: does the ‘rationalisation of lifestyles’ make sense?, Environmental Politics 11 (2): 95-120. NB: reprinted in Jackson, T. (ed.) 2006, The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Consumption. Earthscan, London

Hobson, K. (2001), Sustainable Lifestyles: Rethinking barriers and Behaviour change. In M.J. Cohen and J. Murphy (Eds.) Exploring Sustainable Consumption: Environmental Policy and the Social Sciences. Oxford; Pergamon: 191-209