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Professor Kristen Lyons
Professor

Kristen Lyons

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Phone: 
+61 7 336 52020

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

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Science, Griffith University
  • Bachelor (Honours) of Science (Advanced), Griffith University
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Central Queensland University

Research interests

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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

174 works between 1995 and 2024

161 - 174 of 174 works

1999

Journal Article

Alternative knowledges, organic agriculture, and the biotechnology debate

Lyons, Kristen and Lawrence, Geoffrey (1999). Alternative knowledges, organic agriculture, and the biotechnology debate. Culture and Agriculture, 21 (2), 1-12. doi: 10.1525/cag.1999.21.2.1

Alternative knowledges, organic agriculture, and the biotechnology debate

1999

Conference Publication

Greening, Agriculture and Change: Incorporation and Resistance

Lyons, K. and Lawrence, G. (1999). Greening, Agriculture and Change: Incorporation and Resistance. Farming for the future : organic produce for the 21st century, Mackay, QLD Australia, 22-23 September 1999. Mackay, QLD Australia: Central Queensland University.

Greening, Agriculture and Change: Incorporation and Resistance

1999

Journal Article

Europe's growing interest in organic food

Lyons, K. and Lawrence, G. (1999). Europe's growing interest in organic food. Nexus, 11 (3).

Europe's growing interest in organic food

1999

Journal Article

Healthy for you, healthy for the environment: corporate capital, farming practice and the construction of 'Green' foods

Lawrence, Geoffrey, Lyons, Kristen and Lockie, Stewart (1999). Healthy for you, healthy for the environment: corporate capital, farming practice and the construction of 'Green' foods. Rural Society, 9 (3), 543-554. doi: 10.5172/rsj.9.3.543

Healthy for you, healthy for the environment: corporate capital, farming practice and the construction of 'Green' foods

1999

Conference Publication

Institutionalisation and resistance: organic agriculture in Australia and New Zealand

Lyons, K. and Lawrence, G. (1999). Institutionalisation and resistance: organic agriculture in Australia and New Zealand. XVIII Congress of the European Society for Rural Sociology, Lund, Sweden, 24-28 August 1999.

Institutionalisation and resistance: organic agriculture in Australia and New Zealand

1999

Journal Article

Corporate environmentalism and the development of Australian organic agriculture

Lyons, Kristen (1999). Corporate environmentalism and the development of Australian organic agriculture. Rural Sociology, 64 (2), 1-12. doi: 10.1111/j.1549-0831.1999.tb00017.x

Corporate environmentalism and the development of Australian organic agriculture

1998

Conference Publication

What do we mean by Green? Consumers, Agriculture and the Food Industry

Burch, D., Lyons, K. and Lawrence, G. (1998). What do we mean by Green? Consumers, Agriculture and the Food Industry. Annual Conference of the Australian Sociological Association, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 1-5 December 1998.

What do we mean by Green? Consumers, Agriculture and the Food Industry

1998

Conference Publication

'Healthy for you: healthy for the environment': corporate capital, farming practice and the construction of 'green' foods

Lockie, S., Lyons, K. and Lawrence, G. (1998). 'Healthy for you: healthy for the environment': corporate capital, farming practice and the construction of 'green' foods. XIV World Congress of Sociology, Montreal, Canada, 26 July-1 August 1998.

'Healthy for you: healthy for the environment': corporate capital, farming practice and the construction of 'green' foods

1998

Book Chapter

Understanding organic farm practice: contributions from ecofeminism

Lyons, Kristen (1998). Understanding organic farm practice: contributions from ecofeminism. Australasian food and farming in a globalised economy: recent developments and future prospects. (pp. 45-67) edited by David Burch, Geoffrey Lawrence, Roy Rickson and Jasper Goss. Melbourne VIC, Australia: Dept. of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University.

Understanding organic farm practice: contributions from ecofeminism

1997

Conference Publication

Reconstruction of knowledges and the biotechnology debate: views from growers and grower representatives

Lyons, K. and Lawrence, G. (1997). Reconstruction of knowledges and the biotechnology debate: views from growers and grower representatives. Ecopolitics XI Conference, University of Melbourne, Melbourne , 4-5 October 1997.

Reconstruction of knowledges and the biotechnology debate: views from growers and grower representatives

1996

Book Chapter

'Agro-industrialization and rural restructuring: a case study of the Australian poultry industry'

Lyons, Kristen (1996). 'Agro-industrialization and rural restructuring: a case study of the Australian poultry industry'. Social change in rural Australia. (pp. 167-177) edited by Geoffrey Lawrence, Kristen Lyons and Salim Momtaz. Rockhampton, Australia: Rural Social and Economic Research Centre.

'Agro-industrialization and rural restructuring: a case study of the Australian poultry industry'

1996

Book Chapter

Introduction

Lawrence, G., Lyons, K. and Momtaz, S. (1996). Introduction. Social change in rural Australia. (pp. 1-8) edited by Geoffrey Lawrence, Kristen Lyons and Salim Momtaz. Rockhampton, QLD, Australia: Rural Social and Economic Research Centre.

Introduction

1996

Book

Social Change in Rural Australia

Geoffrey Lawrence, Kristen Lyons and Salim Momtaz eds. (1996). Social Change in Rural Australia. Central Queensland University, Rockhampton: University of Queensland Press ; Central Queensland University Press.

Social Change in Rural Australia

1995

Book Chapter

Agro-industrialization and social change within the Australian context: a case study of the fast food industry

Lyons, Kristen (1995). Agro-industrialization and social change within the Australian context: a case study of the fast food industry. Globalization and agri-food restructuring: perspectives from the Australasia region. (pp. 239-250) edited by David Burch, Roy RIckson and Geoffrey Lawrence. Aldershot: Avebury.

Agro-industrialization and social change within the Australian context: a case study of the fast food industry

Funding

Past funding

  • 2023 - 2024
    Building Climate-Resilient Agri-Food Futures: Reducing Emissions and Improving FoodSecurity Through Agroecology (Monash administered Australia Awards Fellowship)
    Open grant
  • 2020 - 2023
    Centring Community-based planning and participation alongside low carbon transition: a global south-north comparative study
    UQ-FAPESP Strategic Research Fund SPRINT
    Open grant
  • 2016 - 2020
    ''We are the people from that land'': Beyond big coal by centering Indigenous peoples' rights in the transition to a sustainable low carbon future (GCI Flagships)
    Research Donation Generic
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2017
    Enhancing Economic Opportunities offered by Community and Smallholder Forestry in Solomon Islands (ACIAR Project Administered by Griffith University)
    Griffith University
    Open grant
  • 2012
    UQ Category 2 Travel Award - Kristen Lyons
    UQ Travel Awards for International Collaborative Research (Category 2)
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2012
    Urban food security, urban resilience and climate change (administered by Griffith University)
    Griffith University
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2015
    The New Farm Owners: Finance Companies and the Restructuring of Australian and Global Agriculture
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2012
    The politics of food security in a global age: Community impacts and responses to biofuel production in Ghana, West Africa
    UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund
    Open grant

Supervision

Availability

Professor Kristen Lyons is:
Available for supervision

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Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Digital and Agricultural Innovation, and Alternative Agriculture Practices in Australia

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Kiah Smith

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Digital and Agricultural Innovation, and Alternative Agriculture Practices in Australia

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Kiah Smith

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Breaking the bias: delivering gender equality in conservation

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Hugh Possingham

  • 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

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Postapocalyptic environmental practices: the narratives and political possibilities of the Dark Mountain Project

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Heloise Weber

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Gender, Conservation and Natural Resource Management in Solomon Islands

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Hugh Possingham

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Postapocalyptic environmental practices: the narratives and political possibilities of the Dark Mountain Project

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Heloise Weber

  • 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

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

Need help?

For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team:

communications@uq.edu.au