Katie Meissner

Katie currently holds a Postdoctoral Research Fellow within UQ’s Business School. Her research interests include post-disaster resilience, financial and social exclusion from insurance; the social role of weather disaster protection in a climate changed future; cross-sector partnerships and collaboration to address climate change; and, public engagement processes, specifically power imbalances and the use of technical information.

Katie completed her PhD in Environmental Communication in 2020 at UQ. The thesis examines how citizens experienced the public participation undertaken for four proposed mines in Queensland’s Galilee Basin through the lens of fairness and competence in environmental decision-making. The study found that fairness and competence were impeded by three factors: the relationship between inclusion and fairness, mining company control of information, and the Queensland Government’s dual role as regulator of, and beneficiary from, mining projects. These findings have implications for both practice and theory, namely: addressing resource inequality between stakeholders; establishing equitable access to information; and, changing regulatory practice to improve the legitimacy, accountability, and impartiality of public participation.

Katie has taught at UQ since 2018 across a range of Business School management and strategy subjects, including most recently as course coordinator of Corporate Sustainability in the Master of Business program.

Prior to commencing her PhD at UQ, Katie worked in communication roles across a variety of industries including mining, transport, tourism and retail.