Dr Lisa Stafford is an ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow in the School of Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences. Lisa is an applied activist scholar whose expertise and passion is in planning inclusive communities and disability justice. Her work focuses on promoting equity and justice in neighbourhood planning, regional development, active and public transport strategy, and universal design open space & public infrastructure. Lisa is also a highly experienced participatory researcher and facilitator who specialises in the design and use of inclusive creative methods to enable all voices to be heard in research and public planning. Lisa’s most current projects are – Planning Inclusive Communities for people with disabilities in regional areas – funded by the Australian Research Council – DECRA Fellowship https://www.planninginclusivecommunities.com/ and Trips Not Made – Addressing Tasmania’s Transport Disadvantage Experienced by Disabled Young People and Communities living in urban-fringe/peri-urban areas with Anglicare Tasmania https://www.anglicare-tas.org.au/trips-not-made/

LinkedIn URL: https://au.linkedin.com/in/lisa-stafford-92a0b1105

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3439-9972

Twitter Handle: https://twitter.com/Dr_LisaStafford

Biography

Lisa is a researcher, educator and planner in inclusive sustainable communities and geographies of exclusion. She has 20 years’ experience across academia and professional practice as a social scientist and community planner. Her work seeks to bring about equity and justice in everyday spaces and infrastructure.

In academia, Lisa’s research and teaching for past eight years has focused on just planning and design, inclusive neighborhood planning, mobility and transport equity, universal design open spaces & public infrastructure.  She uses applied research to build knowledge and practice with people to help enhance belonging, participation & mobility. This includes the design and use of inclusive creative methods that empowers all voices in research and public planning engagement. Examples include activity-based interviewing, using mapping, art and photographs, as resources to tell stories, film – videography to understand experience from an embodied perspective and world café style focus groups to create inviting space to share and harvest grassroots and frontline knowledge.

Lisa is experienced and passionate about the social-spatial needs of disabled children, young people, and their families - knowledge gained from both her professional practice and research. Adding to her wealth of knowledge is Lisa’s own lived experience as chronically ill disabled woman.

Before academia, Lisa worked in government and non-government sectors for 12 years. She developed and managed inclusive social infrastructure projects – such as the award-winning $5M QLD Government’s All Abilities Playground project from 2007-2010 with 16 local governments in very remote to urban areas in Queensland; undertook extensive regional and social planning, community needs assessment, as well as service development and planning in family support and post-school transition.

Career summary

Qualifications

Memberships

Professional practice

• Full member of Planning Institute of Australia
• Member - Institute of Australian Geographers
• Member - Disability Leadership Institute Australia

Committee associations

• Member of Institute of Australia Geographers (IAG) Equity reference group  https://www.iag.org.au/iag-equity-reference-group
• Member of the Tasmanian Active Living Coalition
• Member of Transport Australia - Tasmanian Group
• Volunteer Board Member on Disability Voices Tasmania

Administrative expertise

• Prince 2 Qualified Project Manager
• Managed complex government projects inc. infrastructure delivery
• Managed and Lead ARC Linkage and DECRA Research Projects as well as Commercial – Industry Projects
• Experience in Management and Leadership. Previous Leadership examples:
• Co-Program Lead Ecologies of Justice Theme and Management Committee Centre for Justice Research Centre Tier 1 – QUT 2019-2021
• Chaired - Disability Inclusion Action Plan Working Group
• Held various volunteer director roles on boards. 
  
  Inc. Former board member of Centre for Universal Design Australia

Teaching

• Community Planning & Practice • Place, Space, Universal Design • Disability • Spatial Justice and Inclusion • Person-Environment

Teaching expertise

Experienced teaching undergraduate and master level, including first year undergraduate units.  In her former roles as Senior Lecturee & Lecturer at QUT, her teaching units/courses included:

• Community & Place Base Practice
• People, Community, Disability
• People & Place - Environmental Psychology
• Design and Society, Environments in Transition

Teaching responsibility

N/A – on fellowship at present

Research Appointments

A list or description of any past (< 5 years) or present appointments to research positions, bodies, etc

Appointments include:

• Co-program Lead – Ecologies of Justice, Centre for Justice Research Centre Tier 1 – QUT 2019-2021
• Management Committee for the Centre for Justice Research Centre Tier 1 – QUT 2019-2021
• School’s Research Ethics Adviser, QUT - 2019-2020
• HDR Coordinator, former School of Design QUT 2016

Research Invitations

• 2021 - Keynote Speaker - Who Are we Planning For? Accessibility Session, Wednesday 26 May, Planning Institute of Australia's Planning Festival 2021.  Summary Highlights: Designing in Places for All 'theme carried through into the address from Dr Lisa Stafford, who brought our attention to the experience of people with disabilities in space. She brought into stark relief the fact that planning has focused on the experience of 'ideal' or 'normal' bodies for far too long and we must bring an attitude of inclusion to all we plan. Dr Stafford empowered us a planners to take up this challenge, noting that we are a profession capable of making serious change in the quality of lives of all people'.
• 2021 - Key Note Speaker June 16 – Embracing and engaging diversity for Queensland Disability Network (QDN) for the Emerging Leader Workshop.
• 2021 – invited speaker National Ability Summit 2nd - 3rd December 2021 virtual INTERNATIONAL conference – India - Inclusive Society For The Hidden Disability https://www.nationalabilitysummit.com/
• 2021 – invited panel member ACSP Roundtable (North America) - October 22 “Nothing About Us without Us” this is the Call of  Movements in the Making.  Disability Justice, Urban Planning and Climate change
• 2021 - 17 June 2021 – City’s Talk City of Hobart & UTAS - Hobart at a Crossroad: Can we be a small city with big transport choices? Panel Speakers: The Hon Malcolm Turnbull AC, 29th Prime Minister of Australia, Dr Lisa Stafford, New Zealand-based transport and land use integration specialist Darren Davis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CvKddjHMWA
• 2021 –Advocacy for Inclusion Podcast - Diversity, Inclusion and Stories that Matter: An Interview with Dr Lisa Stafford https://www.advocacyforinclusion.org/staying-connected-podcast/
• 2021 - Panel Speaker on the Australasian Cities Research Network (ACRN) Speaking Out Series 1 - Gender and Urban Research. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bG4dCJIvr8
• 2021 – Appointed Ambassador for IncludeAbility initiative of Australian Human Rights Commission https://includeability.gov.au/meet-includeability-ambassadors https://includeability.gov.au/meet-includeability-ambassadors/lisa-stafford
• 9 December 2020 - Expert Witness Disability Royal Commission - Public Hearing 9  Outline Submission Report: https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/system/files/2021-03/Public%20hearing%209%2C%20Sydney%20-%20Counsel%20Assisting%20Written%20Outline%20of%20Submissions%20-%20SUBM.0009.0003.0001.pdf
• 2020 - Online Seminar on Planning Inclusively: Approaches To Making Our Communities Just For All Hosted by Griffith Cities Research Institute and Urban and Environmental Planning Studies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTkZmmn3SIA&feature=youtu.be
• 2020 - Health Dialogue Seminar on Inclusion and Disability Research https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9AIRnWkG3c
• Lightening Talk panellist on Space, Place for Centre for Justice and Justice on Tuesday, 25 August, 2020
• 2020 - QDN Power of Peers Advisory Group member
• 2019 – Appointed to the Virtual Centre Expert Advisory Panel for Women With Disability Australia
• 2018 invited to deliver Australia Awards Fellowships – AAF QUT workshop with representative from Tonga on building inclusive communities for people with disabilities.
• 2018 invited to deliver workshop to Vietnam Department of Transport staff on the development of inclusive transport and inclusive economic development on the intersection of gender and disability. Australia Awards Short Course: Project Implementation to Optimise Gender Outcomes-AUS4REFORM.
• 2018 – Building Inclusive Communities presentation– NDIS and Business Opportunities - Gympie Regional Council and Chamber of Commerce – 20 June 2018 https://gympiechamber.com.au/?tribe_events=national-disability-insurance-scheme-opportunities-for-business
• 2018 – Hosting Team Member, for Changing Lives, Changing Communities Forum - QCOSS, QDN, ADCQ. Brisbane 27-28 November 2018. https://www.qcoss.org.au/qcoss-event-changing-lives-changing-communities-brisbane
• 2017, invited to deliver a seminar and design inquiry workshop on community planning and universal design organised by Sunshine Coast Regional Council and USC in June 2017; https://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/Council/News-Centre/Attend-the-Inclusive-Tourism-and-Community-Planning-Forum-300517
• 2017, invited to deliver a master class to Stockland in Sydney on behalf of Touched By Olivia Foundation on inclusive environments in shopping centres 2017.
• 2017 invited to speak to Indonesia Ministry for Disability visit on the Social Model of Disability and Inclusive Spaces – Cases of play spaces.
• 2017, invited to deliver Australia Awards Fellowships – AAF QUT workshop with women with disabilities from Ghana on building inclusive communities for women and girls with disabilities.