University of Tasmania, Australia

Perceptions of Sustainability in Tasmania: Implications for Education and Tasmania’s Future.

Scientific evidence pointing to unsustainable practices in societies across the world and the need for transformative change is ever mounting. Despite this evidence, many social systems and institutions are locked into a ‘politics of unsustainability’ where there is torturously slow progress towards sustainable solutions. In Tasmania, sustainability discourses and movements have a proud history although these histories are entwined in controversy, contestation, and at times, polarising debate. Tasmania trades on its ‘clean green’ image, yet appears at first glance to be a state of paradoxes when sustainability issues are concerned.

The UTAS Faculty of Education Sustainability, Place and Society Teaching and Research Group seeks expressions of interest for an Elite PhD Scholarship project which delves deeper into sustainability perceptions in Tasmania, including tensions within and between economic, social, environmental/ecological, and political imperatives. Whilst the broader scope and methodologies for this project are loosely defined and open to negotiation, we would envisage that this project would employ a critical socio-cultural approach to gather perspectives from the broadest possible range of social contexts, including urban and rural, regional and remote areas. Furthermore this project would seek to explore future implications for Education for Sustainability (EfS) across Tasmania in both formal and informal educational settings.

For further information, please contact Dr Allen Hill, Convenor of the Sustainability, Place and Society Teaching and Research Group.