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Our people

The Institute for Social Change brings together researchers across the University of Tasmania who are passionate about understanding and addressing social change in this state and beyond.

Institute staff, together with our colleagues across the university, deliver a range of policy, demographic and social research services aimed at informing public policy and community debate.

We provide analysis and commentary aimed at stimulating discussion around key issues affecting Tasmania and the wider community.

Our team

  • 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. Her research, published in seven books and 70 articles and chapters, is recognised internationally, and she has been a visiting fellow at Oxford University’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and Japans’ National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
  • Dr Mark Fabian

Deputy Director.

Mark is senior lecturer and deputy director at the Institute for Social Change at the University of Tasmania and affiliate researcher at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at Cambridge University. Mark was previously a Fulbright Scholar at the Brookings Institution in DC, and an adjunct lecturer at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University (ANU). He conducts interdisciplinary, mixed methods research in the area of well-being theory and measurement within a policy context.
  • Dr Ami Seivwright

Postdoctoral Researcher.

Ami is a postdoctoral researcher in the measurement of social and economic change, working across the College of Arts, Law and Education and the College of Business and Economics. Ami has research expertise in complex social issues, regional wellbeing, human resource management, and corporate social responsibility. Her research is contributing to the growing program of work arising from The Tasmania Project as the Institute for Social Change explores the many facets of what makes a good life in Tasmania.
  • Sebastian Kocar

Postdoctoral Researcher.

Sebastian is a postdoctoral researcher in the measurement of social and economic change. He specialises in social science research methodology, statistics, and data analytics, with particular focus on web surveys and online panels. His research is contributing to the growing program of work arising from The Tasmania Project as the Institute for Social Change explores the many facets of what makes a good life in Tasmania.
  • Dr Rebecca Banham

Research Associate.

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

Research Associate.

Nyree coordinates survey design and conducts quantitative data analysis for The Tasmania Project. Nyree is also undertaking a PhD in Sociology/Public Policy within the School of Social Sciences.
  • Ella Horton

Research Associate.

Ella supports a range of research activities conducted by the Institute. Ella is also a PhD candidate in the School of Social Sciences studying social housing and wellbeing and is experienced in project management, research administration, research impact and engagement, and human research ethics.
  • Lauren Moran

PhD Candidate.

Lauren is a PhD candidate (society and culture) looking at regional recovery, wellbeing and the 'good-life'. Lauren has a background in economics and has worked in the public service across multiple statistical domains.
  • Associate Professor 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.
  • Professor Matthew Allen

Adjunct Professor.

Matthew 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. 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. He joined the Institute for Social Change at the start of 2020 as an Adjunct Professor.
  • Professor Melissa Gregg

Adjunct Professor.

Melissa 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.

Links

Contact

Institute for Social Change
University of Tasmania
Private Bag 44
HOBART TAS 7001

Email: ISC.Admin@utas.edu.au

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We acknowledge the palawa/pakana peoples of lutruwita upon whose lands the University of Tasmania stands.

Authorised by the Director, Institute for Social Change. © 19 January, 2022 University of Tasmania, Australia. ABN 30 764 374 782. CRICOS Provider Code 00586B