Overview
Background
Dr Renee Zahnow is an Australian Research Council (ARC) Senior Research Fellow in the School of Social Science at the University of Queensland. Her research focuses on place-based patterns of crime and victimisation; she is particularly interested in understanding the link between the regularities of daily human mobility, social and behavioural norms and the propensity for crime and deviance. She has published in various journals, including Criminology, Urban Studies, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Environment and Behavior and Crime and Delinquency.
Dr Zahnow has worked across a range of research projects including program evaluations and random-control trials. She has spatial and longitudinal modelling expertise and experience in working with police, ambulance and hospital data. She has established working ties with industry partners and international colleagues. Renee has expert knowledge in areas of environmental and urban criminology, social norms and collective social processes, youth and deviance and substance use.
Availability
- Associate Professor Renee Zahnow is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Arts, The University of Queensland
- Bachelor (Honours), The University of Queensland
- Doctoral Diploma, The University of Queensland
Research interests
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Spatial Data analysis
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Environmental Criminology
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Urban Spaces and Sociability
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Routine daily mobility
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Longitudinal and big data analysis
Works
Search Professor Renee Zahnow’s works on UQ eSpace
2010
Conference Publication
Community Resilience Research: Current approaches, challenges and opportunities
Wickes, Rebecca, Zahnow, Renee and Mazerolle, Lorraine (2010). Community Resilience Research: Current approaches, challenges and opportunities. 2010 National Security Science and Innovation Conference, Canberra, Australia, 23 September 2010. Deakin, A.C.T., Australia: Australian Security Research Centre.
Funding
Current funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Associate Professor Renee Zahnow is:
- Available for supervision
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Available projects
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Understanding public spaces from young people's perspective: Identity, territoriality and guardianship
Project description: Public spaces play a vital role in contemporary cities. Beyond their primary function, public spaces such as parks, transport stations and shops, provide opportunities for social interaction, community attachment and a sense of belonging to develop (Francis et al 2012). Public spaces can also provide opportunities for crime. Opportunities for crime arise as a product of situational factors that bring a motivated offender and suitable target together in time and space, in the absence of a guardian (Cohen & Felson 1979). Everyday users of public spaces are frequently present when formal guardians, like police, are absent. These everyday users provide some level of guardianship through their presence alone; merely because they are visible to would-be offenders. More effective guardianship is provided by everyday users of public spaces who act to deter or respond to a crime event by consciously monitoring, proactively preventing and responding to behaviours (Hollis-Peel et al 2011). Active guardians are essential for safe public spaces. In the residential neighbourhood we know that familiarity with place and collective identity with neighbours motivates a sense of responsibility for the shared territory and enhances active guardianship (Newman 1972; Reynald 2011).
Young people frequent public spaces during the course of their everyday lives and may experience public spaces differently than other users. We have a limited understanding of the extent to which young people develop familiarity with public spaces they regularly visit and how this may influence their actions, perceptions and potential guardianship in public spaces. The aim of this PhD would be to address this research gap.
Other requirements:
- Applications will be judged on a competitive basis taking into account the applicant's previous academic record, publication record, honours and awards, and employment history.
- A working knowledge of environmental criminology, neighbourhood effects and/or crime and deviance literature would be of benefit to someone working on this project.
- The applicant will demonstrate academic achievement in the field(s) of criminology, psychology or sociology and the potential for scholastic success.
- A background or knowledge of research methodologies is highly desirable.
- The successful candidate must commence by Research Quarter 4, 2021. You should apply at least 3 months prior to the research quarter commencement date. International applicants may need to apply much earlier for visa reasons.
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Effects of Community Support on Violence against Immigrant and Refugee Women in Australia
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Jonathan Corcoran, Dr Rennie Lee
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Doctor Philosophy
Uncovering State Terrorism in Indonesia: CSOs' Vital Role in Deradicalizing, Disengaging and Rehabilitating Extremists
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Adrian Cherney
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Doctor Philosophy
¿Disaster Strains¿: An exploratory, comparative, thematic analysis of the 2010-11 Brisbane floods and COVID-19 pandemic, through the theoretical lenses of Agnew's General Strain Theory.
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Jonah Rimer, Associate Professor Suzanna Fay
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Doctor Philosophy
Green spaces for healthy ageing: An international comparative study
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Peter Walters
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Doctor Philosophy
DO AUSTRALIANS PERCEIVE IMMIGRATION AS A THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY?
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Suzanna Fay
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Doctor Philosophy
Assessing violent extremist risk assessment practices: an international comparison.
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Adrian Cherney
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Master Philosophy
Cultural variation in connection to nature
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Richard Fuller
Completed supervision
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2024
Doctor Philosophy
Urban nature health effects moderated by stressful contexts
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Richard Fuller
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2024
Doctor Philosophy
Understanding the Progression to Violence: Background Characteristics and Risk Factors for Radicalisation to Violent Extremism
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Adrian Cherney
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2023
Doctor Philosophy
Crime, Perceptions of Safety, and Public Transit Ridership: A Space-Time Approach
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Yan Liu, Professor Jonathan Corcoran
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2020
Doctor Philosophy
`Conservation' Criminology: Understanding and Preventing Illegal Fishing in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Lorraine Mazerolle
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2017
Doctor Philosophy
The Immigration-Crime Myth: Exploring the Impact of Immigration on Neighbourhood Violence
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Jonathan Corcoran
Media
Enquiries
Contact Associate Professor Renee Zahnow directly for media enquiries about:
- community
- crime
- delinquency
- mobility
- neighborhood
- population health
- resilience
- social ties
- youth
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