Our people

• Professor Libby Lester

Director. Libby works across industries, government and NGOs to understand and promote the role of communication and media in good decision making about shared social and environmental futures. She asks in particular how regional communities and industries adapt and change in the face of global crises and expanding networks of communications, travel and trade.

• Dr Lisa Denny

Adjunct Associate Professor. Lisa is a demographer and quantitative researcher, Lisa provides independent demographic analysis at a state, regional and local level using multiple social and economic variables.

• Jackie De Vries

Project Manager and Data Analyst. Jackie has a widespread public sector and non-government background in the area of social policy, particularly evidence based housing policy. Jackie has extensive experience in undertaking quantitative research including descriptive analysis of secondary data sets such as the ABS Census and administrative datasets to produce demographic and socio-economic profiles at local area level. Areas of expertise include: social and affordable housing, homelessness, community housing regulation, community managed mental health sector reform, and tracking Indigenous disadvantage.

• Dr Melissa Gregg

Adjunct Professor. Dr Melissa Gregg is a Senior Principal Engineer at Intel, based in the United States, and has an international reputation for her research in the area of technology, work and human factors. She grew up on Bruny Island and completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Tasmania.

• Professor Matthew Allen

Adjunct Professor. Professor Matthew Allen is Australia’s first Professor of Internet Studies, having established the world-leading Internet Studies department at Curtin University where he worked from 1993 to 2012. He then took up the role of Head of School, Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University (2013-2019) before moving to Tasmania to focus on his research. A former president of the Association of Internet Researchers, Matthew’s research covers topics including the history of the Internet, drug use and online communication, Australians’ development of broadband usage, and online learning and education: Matthew is also a co-editor of the prestigious Handbook of Internet Research. A nationally awarded educator (AAUT, 2000) and Fellow of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, Matthew has extensive experience in leading and developing innovations in online learning. He joined the Institute for Social Change at the start of 2020 as an Adjunct Professor.

• Dr Rebecca Banham

Research Associate A qualitative researcher, Rebecca coordinates the interviews for The Tasmania Project, and provides analysis of interview data. She is particularly interested in themes of emotion, relationship, and sense of place, and how these things shape social life in Tasmania.