Meet
Our
Team
Prof Philippa Collin
Professor Philippa Collin is co-founder and co-Director of the Young and Resilient Research Centre at Western Sydney University. An internationally recognised expert in youth political participation and citizenship she will have carriage of the ethnographic aspects of the study.
She has led more than 30 large-scale, youth-centred and collaborative projects including as Research Stream Leader for the Wellbeing, Health and Youth NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence (2019-2023), Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre (2011-16) and as Managing Director of Research and Policy for Reachout.com (2008 - 2010)
Prof Judith Bessant
Judith Bessant is Professor of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University, Melbourne. She was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 2017 for 'significant service to education as a social scientist, advocate and academic specialising in youth studies research'.
Judith has published many books, chapters and journal articles -
Dr Michelle Catanzaro
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A/Prof Faith Gordon
Associate Professor Faith Gordon (PhD) (she/her) is an interdisciplinary socio-legal scholar and criminologist and is an Associate Professor and Deputy Associate Dean of Research at the ANU College of Law, Australian National University. Faith has extensive experience of research and teaching in areas including youth justice; children’s rights; criminal law; media and digital technologies; and youth climate action.
Along with Dr Dan Newman she has edited collections in the areas of global perspectives to access to justice in rural communities (Hart Publishing), and law and social justice (Routledge) and has co-edited special issues with colleagues in the areas of digital technologies. Faith’s research, including her sole-authored monograph (Palgrave Macmillan, Socio-Legal Series) has been cited by the United Nations, the Northern Ireland High Court, the UK Court of Appeal, the Youth Court in Aotearoa New Zealand and referred to by the UK Joint Committee on Draft Online Safety Bill, House of Lords. Faith has been a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford, Queen's University and University College London.
She has won a number of awards and prizes for her research and teaching, including: The Vice-Chancellor's Award for Influential Impact and Engagement (2022), Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning, Excellence in Education Awards (2022), the Stanley Cohen Prize and the Northern Ireland Law Society Prize for the best research project.
Dr Stewart Jackson
Dr Stewart Jackson is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government and International Relations, with a specialisation in Australian politics, at the University of Sydney. His broad interests cover the breadth of Green politics in Australia and the Asia Pacific, with a special interest in party development. These interests also extend to green political theory, particularly environmental feminism, and the intersection of social movements and parliamentary politics.
Prof Robert Watts
Professor Rob Watts, FASSA, is Professor of Social Policy at RMIT University. He teaches policy studies, politics, the history of ideas, and applied human rights. He is a founding member of the Greens Party in Victoria, a founding editor of the journal Just Policy (1994-2006) and he established the Australian Center for Human Rights Education (ACHRE) at RMIT in 2008. His many books include The Foundations of the National Welfare State (1987) Arguing About the Australian Welfare State (with Considine, M. & Beilharz, P.) (1992), International Criminology: A Critical Introduction (with Bessant, J. & Hil, R.) (2009), Sociology Australia (3 editions), (with Bessant, J.), (2007) and Talking Policy: Australian Social Policy (with Bessant, J., Dalton, T. & Smyth, P.) (2007). Recent books include States of Violence and the Civilising Process: on criminology and state crime (2016), Public Universities, Managerialism and the value of the university (2017) and he co-authored The Precarious Generation: A political economy of young people (2018) Recent books include Criminalizing Dissent: the liberal state and the problem of legitimacy (2020). He is finishing off a major book (with Judith Bessant) on democracy and young people’s politics to be published in 2024.
Dr Luigi Di Martino
Luigi is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the project based at the Young and Resilient Research Centre. His research investigates the use of social media in public and political communication and in everyday life, with a focus on developing and theorising ethical online listening practices for governments and policy makers. Other areas of interest include public diplomacy, media events, online political engagement, and data ethics. He has received international recognition for his conceptual framework on social media listening.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8490-0804
Research Associates
Dinusha graduated with a Bachelors of Design - Visual Communication (Dean's Scholars), where she maintained a grade point average of 6.96. As a design researcher, Dinusha is particularly passionate about issues relating to sustainability and social advocacy. In 2021 Dinusha won the 'highly commended' Vice-Chancellor's Excellence Award for Excellence in University Engagement and Sustainability. In the summer of 2022, she was awarded a summer research scholarship looking into visual activism at climate protests, where she was subsequently hired as a research assistant for the project.
Nina is a research assistant and proof-editor with Western Sydney University and RMIT University. She has been conducting fieldwork observing SS4C and Extinction Rebellion climate action days as part of her work for this project.
She has a Bachelor’s and Honours degree in Creative Writing from RMIT University, having explored topics such as climate anxiety and the Anthropocene.Grace Vegesana is the National Director of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. She has been building youth power to end fossil fuel expansion since she was 17. Her legacy includes co-founding the People of Colour Climate Network, pioneering climate justice organising on Dharug Country in Western Sydney with AYCC, and mobilising 3000 Australian businesses to join the Climate Strikes. She collaborates with and advises the New Possibilities project.
Braedyn is a descendant of the Kamillaroi and Kunja mobs of Northern NSW and South West Queensland.
Since 2016, he has been studying Law and Arts at the Australian National University, Canberra. For this project, he is analysing media responses to student climate actions.
Varsha Yajman, a passionate speaker, podcaster, and dedicated advocate, is at the forefront of climate justice and mental health awareness. As a coordinator at SAPNA South Asian Climate Solidarity Network and a paralegal at Equity Generation Lawyers specialising in climate change litigation, she actively drives meaningful change. She has also been collaborating with and advising the New Possibilities project.