Joanna Horton

Dr Joanna Horton is a sociologist with interests in power, participation, and governance. Her qualitative research within government, academia, and the community sector has explored how people navigate, participate in, and challenge structures of power.

Her MA research at the University of Chicago examined how local food activists scale and construct version of 'locality', and how this understanding intersects with processes of gentrification. Following her MA, she worked at CSIRO in the Data61 Insights Team, helping to develop scenario planning across a range of sectors. Her PhD research, completed as part of the ARC DECRA project 'Fair Food Futures', examined the role of Australian civic food networks (CFNs) in food systems governance. The project explored the strategic challenges and opportunities faced by these organisations in attempting to influence outcomes via (mostly) mainstream processes of multistakeholder governance.

Currently Joanna is a postdoctoral research fellow working on two ARC projects. At the Centre for Policy Futures, she is working on the ARC Discovery Project 'Coastal Horticulture in Northeastern Australia: Global Networks and Regional Development', exploring land, labour and environment in multifunctional regional landscapes. At the Centre for Digital Cultures & Societies, her research on the ARC Future Fellowship 'After the Future of Work' examines the intersections between digital technology, labour relations, and extreme heat.