I am a social and cultural geographer. I’m driven by a desire to understand and address environmental damage, inequities and injustices.
My work takes two broad approaches:
I draw on concepts and methods from cultural geography, more-than-human approaches, environmental governance, and interdisciplinary scholarship.
Examples of my current research projects are listed below, under 'Research overview'.
Publications in press:
Adams K, Gibbs L, Knott N, Broad A, Hing M, Taylor M, Davis A (2020) ‘Coexisting with sharks: a novel, socially acceptable and non-lethal shark mitigation approach’ Scientific Reports 10, 17497 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74270-y
Hamylton S, Gibbs L, Williams K & Ihlein L (2020) ‘Can interdisciplinary insights encourage a meaningful response to the climate crisis? Narratives from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia’ GeoHumanities 6(2) 394-412 https://doi.org/10.1080/2373566X.2020.1819167
Gibbs (2020) ‘Oceans’ An A–Z of Shadow Places Concepts https://www.shadowplaces.net/concepts
Gibbs L (2020) 'Animal Geographies II: killing and caring (in times of crisis)' Progress in Human Geography https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132520942295
Gibbs L (2020) 'Agency in human–shark encounter' Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848620929942
Gibbs L, Fetterplace L, Rees M, Hanich Q (2020) 'Effects and effectiveness of lethal shark hazard management: the Shark Meshing (Bather Protection) Program, NSW, Australia' People and Nature 2(1) 189–203 https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10063
Williams K, Hamylton S, Ihlein L & Gibbs L (2020) ‘Sustaining the seas through interdisciplinary songwriting’ in Probyn E, Johnston K & Lee N (Eds) Sustaining the Seas: oceanic space and the politics of care. Rowman & Littlefield International, London & New York, pp281–92 (rowman.com/ISBN/9781786612830/Sustaining-Seas-Oceanic-Space-and-the-Politics-of-Care)
Pratt S, Marambio C, Quigley K, Hamylton S, Gibbs L, Vergés A, Adams M, Barcan R, Neimanis A (2020) 'Fathom' Environmental Humanities 12(1) 173–8 https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-8142264
Human-shark encounter
Sharks have become the focus of intense public and policy debate in recent years. My research examines the cultures and politics of human-shark encounter and shark hazard management.
To date my work has focused on experiences and views of ocean-users in Western Australia (with Andrew Warren, UOW); interdisciplinary critique of the effects and effectiveness of lethal shark hazard management in New South Wales (with Lachlan Fetterplace, Matt Rees and Quentin Hanich, UOW); and a trial of non-lethal shark surveillance technology Project AIRSHIP (with Kye Adams, Allison Broad, Andy Davis and Wanqing Li, UOW).
In the public realm I have contributed to a Commonwealth of Australia Senate Inquiry and legal proceedings in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal regarding shark hazard management around Australia.
Mapping the Islands: how art and science can save the Great Barrier Reef
This project uses interdisciplinary collaboration to investigate and communicate about climate change. With coastal scientist Sarah Hamylton and artists Lucas Ihlein and Kim Williams, this UOW Global Challenges-funded project explores the efficacy of mapping, drawing, story-telling and other forms of communicating to interrogate the contemporary environmental and social changes that are altering the Great Barrier Reef. In 2017 this iconic Australian coastal landscape underwent a second consecutive mass bleaching event. Driven by carbon emissions and global practices of consumption, this environmental issue represents a truly global challenge. Through this project we are exploring non-traditional scholarly outputs, including music. Here's our first song: 'Rock the Boat'.
A Love of County: mapping and re-imagining a UOW Geography curriculum
This project, funded by a University of Wollongong Jindaola Indigenous Knowledge grant, creates an opportunity for colleagues in the School of Geography and Sustainable Communities to pay attention, explicitly and carefully, to the ways that geographic knowledge is produced and practiced, and to further embed Indigenous knowledges and perspectives into the curriculum. Working with Laura Hammersley, Vanessa Cavanagh, Jenny Atchison, Chantel Carr, Gillian Gregory and Michael Adams, and PhD students Carrie Wilkinson, Hilton Penfold, Craig Lyons and Makrita Solitei, we seek to engage our whole of School to map the existing UOW geography curriculum and rethink how we can support our students to effectively and respectfully engage with Indigenous knowledges across our teaching.
Hope and Grief in the Geography classroom
Human geography courses frequently touch on distressing material: the inevitability of climate change, food insecurity, the plight of refugees and asylum seekers, and child labour, to name a few. Discussions of how to communicate such information in the public sphere have garnered some attention, with concerns being raised that a ‘doom and gloom’ approach may be disempowering and counterproductive. This project (with Natascha Klocker, Charlie Gillon, Jenny Atchison and Gordon Waitt) engages the existing evidence base around strategies for communicating challenging issues, bringing the focus to the undergraduate classroom.
Year | Title |
---|---|
2022 - 2026 | Funding Scheme: Endeavour Fund |
2018 | Awarded by: Funding Scheme: Annual Competitive Grants Program |
I am interested in supervising research students working in the following areas:
Degree | Research Title | Advisee | |
---|---|---|---|
Doctor of Philosophy | Beyond Mains Water: A Study of Households that are Off-Grid for Water in Regional New South Wales, Australia | Wilkinson, Carrie | |
Doctor of Philosophy | Art and Urban Aboriginal Adolescent Identity | Moyle, Catherine | |
Doctor of Philosophy | Perspectives on Aboriginal Country in Australia | Cavanagh, Vanessa | |
Doctor of Philosophy | Mapping the Effect of Human-Shark Encounters on the South Coast of New South Wales | Mifsud, Teaniel | |
Doctor of Philosophy | A sustainable visual arts practice: Integrating contemporary art with the UN Sustainable Development Goals | Bailey, Janine |
School of Geography and Sustainable Communities
University of Wollongong, Northfields Ave.
Wollongong
NSW
2522
Australia
Human-shark encounter
Sharks have become the focus of intense public and policy debate in recent years. My research examines the cultures and politics of human-shark encounter and shark hazard management.
To date my work has focused on experiences and views of ocean-users in Western Australia (with Andrew Warren, UOW); interdisciplinary critique of the effects and effectiveness of lethal shark hazard management in New South Wales (with Lachlan Fetterplace, Matt Rees and Quentin Hanich, UOW); and a trial of non-lethal shark surveillance technology Project AIRSHIP (with Kye Adams, Allison Broad, Andy Davis and Wanqing Li, UOW).
In the public realm I have contributed to a Commonwealth of Australia Senate Inquiry and legal proceedings in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal regarding shark hazard management around Australia.
Mapping the Islands: how art and science can save the Great Barrier Reef
This project uses interdisciplinary collaboration to investigate and communicate about climate change. With coastal scientist Sarah Hamylton and artists Lucas Ihlein and Kim Williams, this UOW Global Challenges-funded project explores the efficacy of mapping, drawing, story-telling and other forms of communicating to interrogate the contemporary environmental and social changes that are altering the Great Barrier Reef. In 2017 this iconic Australian coastal landscape underwent a second consecutive mass bleaching event. Driven by carbon emissions and global practices of consumption, this environmental issue represents a truly global challenge. Through this project we are exploring non-traditional scholarly outputs, including music. Here's our first song: 'Rock the Boat'.
A Love of County: mapping and re-imagining a UOW Geography curriculum
This project, funded by a University of Wollongong Jindaola Indigenous Knowledge grant, creates an opportunity for colleagues in the School of Geography and Sustainable Communities to pay attention, explicitly and carefully, to the ways that geographic knowledge is produced and practiced, and to further embed Indigenous knowledges and perspectives into the curriculum. Working with Laura Hammersley, Vanessa Cavanagh, Jenny Atchison, Chantel Carr, Gillian Gregory and Michael Adams, and PhD students Carrie Wilkinson, Hilton Penfold, Craig Lyons and Makrita Solitei, we seek to engage our whole of School to map the existing UOW geography curriculum and rethink how we can support our students to effectively and respectfully engage with Indigenous knowledges across our teaching.
Hope and Grief in the Geography classroom
Human geography courses frequently touch on distressing material: the inevitability of climate change, food insecurity, the plight of refugees and asylum seekers, and child labour, to name a few. Discussions of how to communicate such information in the public sphere have garnered some attention, with concerns being raised that a ‘doom and gloom’ approach may be disempowering and counterproductive. This project (with Natascha Klocker, Charlie Gillon, Jenny Atchison and Gordon Waitt) engages the existing evidence base around strategies for communicating challenging issues, bringing the focus to the undergraduate classroom.
Year | Title |
---|---|
2022 - 2026 | Funding Scheme: Endeavour Fund |
2018 | Awarded by: Funding Scheme: Annual Competitive Grants Program |
I am interested in supervising research students working in the following areas:
Degree | Research Title | Advisee | |
---|---|---|---|
Doctor of Philosophy | Beyond Mains Water: A Study of Households that are Off-Grid for Water in Regional New South Wales, Australia | Wilkinson, Carrie | |
Doctor of Philosophy | Art and Urban Aboriginal Adolescent Identity | Moyle, Catherine | |
Doctor of Philosophy | Perspectives on Aboriginal Country in Australia | Cavanagh, Vanessa | |
Doctor of Philosophy | Mapping the Effect of Human-Shark Encounters on the South Coast of New South Wales | Mifsud, Teaniel | |
Doctor of Philosophy | A sustainable visual arts practice: Integrating contemporary art with the UN Sustainable Development Goals | Bailey, Janine |
School of Geography and Sustainable Communities
University of Wollongong, Northfields Ave.
Wollongong
NSW
2522
Australia