Overview
Background
Professor Kristen Lyons is a public intellectual with over twenty years experience in research, teaching and service that delivers national and international impacts on issues that sit at the intersection of sustainability and development, as well as the future of higher education. Trained as a sociologist, Kristen is comfortable working in transdisciplinary teams to deliver socially just outcomes, including for some of the world's most vulnerable communities. Kristen works regularly in Uganda, Solomon Islands and Australia, and her work is grounded in a rights-based approach. In practice, this means centring the rights and interests of local communities, including Indigenous peoples, in her approach to research design, collaboration, and impacts and outcomes. Kristen is also a Senior Research Fellow with the Oakland Institute.
Availability
- Professor Kristen Lyons is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Science, Griffith University
- Bachelor (Honours) of Science (Advanced), Griffith University
- Doctor of Philosophy, Central Queensland University
Research interests
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Climate Change and Human Rights
Responses to climate change deliver significant impacts at the local level. I lead cross country research that examines the impacts of carbon trading initiatives - one response to climate change - for local communities.
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Transdisciplinary and Indigenous Rights
I am engaged in research that examines the social, legal and policy frameworks to support Australia to meet its Indigenous rights obligations, especially in the context of a climate changing world.
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Transforming Universities for the Public Good
Today’s university system is increasingly market driven, with institutional requirements that constrain options for public good research and learning. This system stands at odds with the primary and historical role of universities. Higher education movements – including free universities, progressive colleges and civic forums – offer important critical alternatives to this current system. I am engaged in research to analyse a selection of movements, delivering outcomes that will increase knowledge of how alliances and campaigns organise, what their change agenda entails, and how they are transforming universities for the public good.
Research impacts
My recognised role as public intellectual enhances my national and international academic, policy and industry impacts on issues related to the environment, development and human rights. Over the last five years I have led research teams to deliver socially just outcomes for some of the world's most vulnerable communities. For example, I have led research to identify human rights abuses that underpin international carbon offset projects in Uganda. The outcome of this has changed practices of one of the worlds largest plantation forestry and carbon offset companies, and shaped public debates related to global carbon trade projects. Collaborative research with Traditional Owners in Australia has also also delivered outcomes that have impacted public and policy understandings of Australia's indigenous rights obligations in the context of resource development.
To maximise research impact, I regularly work with funding bodies that support collaborative engagement with key partners, and build enduring relations between academic, industry and community groups.
In my role as advisor on a number of government advisory bodies, I have played a part in changing guidelines and policies related to emerging technologies. I was part of a team that provided recommendations to the Department of Industry Science and Resources to ensure Australia's compliance with international organic agriculture and food standards, with outcomes that ensure Australia maintains international market access.
I am committed to publishing broadly in non academic outlets, including in The Conversation (over 126,000 readers, and ranked #3 at UQ in 2018), ABC, New Matilda), and my research regularly features in international and national media.
Works
Search Professor Kristen Lyons’s works on UQ eSpace
2017
Journal Article
Nano Foods’: There’s No Proof Some of the Tiny Things You’re Eating Are Safe
Lyons, Kristen and Smith, Naomi (2017). Nano Foods’: There’s No Proof Some of the Tiny Things You’re Eating Are Safe. New Matilda, 1-1.
2017
Journal Article
Liberals lifting higher learning out of reach for poorer Australians
Lyons, Kristen and Hil, Richard (2017). Liberals lifting higher learning out of reach for poorer Australians. Advocate: Newsletter of the National Tertiary Education Union, 24 (2), 22-22.
2017
Journal Article
The last line of defence: Indigenous rights and Adani’s land deal
Brigg, Morgan , Lyons, Kristen and Quiggin, John (2017, 06 19). The last line of defence: Indigenous rights and Adani’s land deal
2017
Journal Article
The Liberals are Lifting Higher Learning Out of Reach for Poorer Australians
Hil, Richard and Lyons, Kristen (2017). The Liberals are Lifting Higher Learning Out of Reach for Poorer Australians. New Matilda, 1-1.
2017
Other Outputs
Unfinished business: Adani, the State and the Indigenous Rights struggle of the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners Council
Lyons, Kristen , Brigg, Morgan and Quiggin, John (2017). Unfinished business: Adani, the State and the Indigenous Rights struggle of the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners Council. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: University of Queensland.
2017
Journal Article
A Post Neoliberal Academy? Can Academics Do Politics Too?
Hil, Richard and Lyons, Kristen (2017). A Post Neoliberal Academy? Can Academics Do Politics Too?. Arena Magazine (147), 44-47.
2017
Journal Article
Reforming global carbon markets or re-imagining alternative climate solutions and sustainabilities? An analysis of selected NGO strategies in Uganda
Lyons, Kristen, Westoby, Peter and Nel, Adrian (2017). Reforming global carbon markets or re-imagining alternative climate solutions and sustainabilities? An analysis of selected NGO strategies in Uganda. Journal of Political Ecology, 24 (1), 324-341. doi: 10.2458/v24i1.20812
2017
Journal Article
The place of social learning and social movement in transformative learning: a case study of sustainability schools in Uganda
Westoby, Peter and Lyons, Kristen (2017). The place of social learning and social movement in transformative learning: a case study of sustainability schools in Uganda. Journal of Transformative Education, 15 (3), 223-240. doi: 10.1177/1541344617696970
2017
Other Outputs
Carbon colonialism: failure of Green Resources’ carbon offset project in Uganda
Lyons, Kristen and Ssemwogerere, David (2017). Carbon colonialism: failure of Green Resources’ carbon offset project in Uganda. Oakland, CA, United States: Oakland Institute.
2016
Journal Article
How the pursuit of carbon and fossil fuels harms vulnerable communities
Lyons, Kristen (2016, 12 05). How the pursuit of carbon and fossil fuels harms vulnerable communities
2016
Journal Article
Community teak forestry in Solomon Islands as donor development: when science meets culture
Walters, Peter and Lyons, Kristen (2016). Community teak forestry in Solomon Islands as donor development: when science meets culture. Land Use Policy, 57, 730-738. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.06.029
2016
Journal Article
The new corporate enclosures: plantation forestry, carbon markets and the limits of financialised solutions to the climate crisis
Richards, Carol and Lyons, Kristen (2016). The new corporate enclosures: plantation forestry, carbon markets and the limits of financialised solutions to the climate crisis. Land Use Policy, 56, 209-216. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.05.013
2016
Journal Article
Privatisation: challenging the privatised university
Lyons, Kristen (2016). Privatisation: challenging the privatised university. Advocate: Newsletter of the National Tertiary Education Union, 23 (3), 31-31.
2016
Journal Article
Australia’s coal politics are undermining democratic and Indigenous rights
Lyons, Kristen (2016, 10 26). Australia’s coal politics are undermining democratic and Indigenous rights
2016
Journal Article
The great divide: the new fat cats in Australia’s universities
Hil, Richard and Lyons, Kristen (2016). The great divide: the new fat cats in Australia’s universities. Arena Magazine (144), 9-11.
2016
Journal Article
Weighing up the evidence: a response to Fischer et al
Lyons, Kristen and Westoby, Peter (2016). Weighing up the evidence: a response to Fischer et al. Journal of Rural Studies, 47, 269-270. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2016.06.015
2016
Journal Article
Academics are unhappy – it’s time to transform our troubled university system
Hil, Richard and Lyons, Kristen (2016, 09 20). Academics are unhappy – it’s time to transform our troubled university system
2016
Journal Article
Introduction to the special issue: Challenging the Privatised University
Lyons, Kristen, Tager, Jeremy and Sales, Louise (2016). Introduction to the special issue: Challenging the Privatised University. Australian Universities Review, 58 (2), 3-4.
2016
Journal Article
Privatising development and environmental management: undermining social license in the Ugandan plantation forest sector
Westoby, Peter and Lyons, Kristen (2016). Privatising development and environmental management: undermining social license in the Ugandan plantation forest sector. Environmental Sociology, 2 (3), 1-10. doi: 10.1080/23251042.2016.1163963
2016
Journal Article
Community organising in the oil conflict zone: Friends of the Earth Uganda ‘Sustainability School’ advocacy initiative
Westoby, Peter and Lyons, Kristen (2016). Community organising in the oil conflict zone: Friends of the Earth Uganda ‘Sustainability School’ advocacy initiative. Chain Reaction, 126, 46-47.
Funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Kristen Lyons is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Digital and Agricultural Innovation, and Alternative Agriculture Practices in Australian
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Kiah Smith
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Doctor Philosophy
Political and Environmental Contributions of Agro-Forestry and Permaculture to Build Resilience to Climate Change
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Sonia Roitman
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Doctor Philosophy
Postapocalyptic environmental practices: the narratives and political possibilities of the Dark Mountain Project
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Heloise Weber
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Doctor Philosophy
Gender, Conservation and Natural Resource Management in Solomon Islands
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Hugh Possingham
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Doctor Philosophy
Postapocalyptic environmental practices: the narratives and political possibilities of the Dark Mountain Project
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Heloise Weber
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Doctor Philosophy
Green extractivism, environmental justice and Indigenous Rights: The case of lithium mining in Chile
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Sally Babidge
Completed supervision
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2025
Doctor Philosophy
Postapocalyptic environmental practices: the narratives and political possibilities of the Dark Mountain Project
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Heloise Weber
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2019
Doctor Philosophy
Agrarian Transformation in Ghana's Brong Ahafo Region: Drivers and Outcomes
Principal Advisor
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2018
Master Philosophy
What is food in the food regime?: Remaking food and markets in a time of crisis
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Lawrence
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2018
Doctor Philosophy
Social impact assessment, social justice and scales of knowledge: exploring the emerging mining industry in Solomon Islands
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Simon Albert, Professor Karen McNamara
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2016
Doctor Philosophy
Food sovereignty: alternative policy for a sustainable national food system in Timor-Leste under climate change
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Peter Walters
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2015
Doctor Philosophy
An Island of Success in a Sea of Failure? The MDGs and Sauri Millennium Village in Kenya
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Adjunct Professor Adil Khan
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2014
Doctor Philosophy
Resonance of the land grabbing frame in Mali, West Africa: A social movements and political ecology perspective
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Lawrence
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2024
Master Philosophy
Assessment of Menstrual Health and Hygiene interventions in Rural Kenya
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Nina Lansbury
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2016
Doctor Philosophy
What's Cooking in Paradise? An ethnobotanical investigation of a transitioning food system in Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands
Associate Advisor
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2014
Doctor Philosophy
Governance and Development Planning: A Case Study of Urban Low Cost Housing in Sarawak, Malaysia
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Adjunct Professor Adil Khan, Associate Professor Peter Walters
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2011
Doctor Philosophy
Contesting 'ethicality': Ethical trade, gender and sustainable livelihoods for smallholder farmers in Kenya
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Lawrence
Media
Enquiries
Contact Professor Kristen Lyons directly for media enquiries about:
- carbon markets and human rights
- development and environment
- East Africa
- nanotechnology in food and agriculture
- privatised university
- Solomon Islands and logging
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