Adjunct Research Fellow

Lisa Ryan is a Lecturer in the School of Education at University of Southern Queensland and an Adjunct Research Fellow in the Sustainability Research Centre at the University of the Sunshine Coast. She is passionate about the role of education in contributing to sustainable futures and has been teaching and researching in environmental and sustainability education for over 20 years across formal education, government and community-based contexts in Australia and internationally. Her research, located within the broad field of sociology of education, is inspired specifically by post-structural and postcolonial theories of power and discourse. She’s particularly interested in the shaping of environmental and sustainability identities, spaces for agency and resistance and the intersections of knowledge systems particularly across global and local fields. Lisa’s PhD “Localising the Global Eco-Schools Program in South Africa: A postcolonial analysis” drew on the underutilised theory of postcolonialism to challenge dominant ways of conceptualising agency within the environmental education field and was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal for best thesis in 2017 at Southern Cross University. Other recent research includes systems approaches to change in teacher education. Her current research is concerned with teacher environmental and sustainability education and the use of digital platforms in engaging young people in the environment.

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy, S.Cross; Master of Environmental Education, Griff.;  Bachelor of Educational Studies, Qld.; Diploma of Teaching (Primary), McAuley College.

Research areas

• Teacher education
• Sustainability education
• Environmental education

Awards

• Queensland Reconciliation Award (Partnerships) for Kids in Action Program (Program Manager) 2020
• Australian Banksia Award (Government) for Vertical BioBlitz Program (BioBlitz Team) 2019
• Finalist Banksia Sustainable Cities Award (Mary Cairncross Team Award) (2017)
• Winner Sunshine Coast CEO Excellence Award for High Standards (Mary Cairncross Team Award) (2017)

• Winner of Chancellor’s Medal for Outstanding Thesis (2017)
• Australian Journal of Environmental Education Most Significant Paper Award (co-author) (2016)
• Green Gown Awards -Finalist (Team award for Sustainability Leadership across Teacher Education) (2016)

Key Research Publications

Ryan, L & Ferreira, J 2019, ‘Pursuing epistemological plurality in South Africa's Eco-Schools: Discursive rules for knowledge legitimation’, Southern African Journal of Environmental Education, vol. 35, pp. 10

Ferreira J, Ryan L & Davis J 2015, ‘Developing Knowledge and Leadership in Pre-Service Teacher Education Systems’, Australian Journal of Environmental Education, pp. 1-14.

Ferreira, J, Ryan, L & Tilbury, D 2014, ‘A Response to Reorienting Teacher Education Towards Sustainability’, Australian Journal of Environmental Education, vol. 30 (1), pp. 147-147.

Ferreira, J & Ryan, L 2013, ‘Working the System: A Model for System-Wide Change in Pre-Service Teacher Education’, Australian Journal of Teacher Education, vol. 37(12), pp. 29-45.

Ferreira, J, Ryan, L & Tilbury, D 2007, ‘Planning for Success: Factors Influencing Change in Teacher Education’, Australian Journal of Environmental Education, vol. 23, pp. 45-56.

Ferreira, J, Ryan, L & Tilbury, D 2007, ‘Mainstreaming Education for Sustainability in Initial Teacher Education in Australia: A review of existing professional development models’, Journal of Education for Teaching, vol. 33(2), pp. 225-239.

Tilbury, D, Goldstein, W & Ryan, L 2003, ‘Towards Environmental Education for Sustainable Development: The contributions of NGOs in the Asia-Pacific Region’, International Review for Environmental Strategies, Vol 4, No. 1, pp. 59-73.

Contact Dr Lisa Ryan via email SoSSAdmin@usc.edu.au.