Associate Professor Dana Thomsen | UniSC | University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

Associate Professor Dana Thomsen is a human geographer with a research agenda focussed on the transformation of socio-ecological relationships and complex systems thinking. Dana is particularly interested in creative forms of communication that invoke emotional connections, sustainability discourses and active responses. Dana has over 20 years of experience in university and government positions. She was a founding and executive member of the Sustainability Research Centre at UniSC (2007-2020) and led the sustainability programs for over a decade.

Dana’s research agenda is evidenced through numerous projects at local (e.g., exploring adaptation pathways with 17 local councils in QLD and NSW), national (e.g., developing adaptive learning strategies for coastal adaptation with partners across QLD, SA, Tas, WA), and international scales (e.g., informing the EU Water Framework Directive by working in collaboration with colleagues from universities in the UK, USA, Sweden, Canada, Netherlands, and Italy).

Dana is a named chief investigator on over A$11m of competitive research grants. Her projects have been supported by the Australian Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, the CSIRO Collaboration Fund (Southeast Queensland Climate Adaptation Research Initiative), the CSIRO Coastal Collaboration Cluster, the Australian Government Office of Learning and Teaching, the Europe and Global Challenges Program, and the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF).

In addition to her role at UniSC, Dana is an Adjunct Professor at Brock University, Canada and a Senior Research Associate at Uppsala University, Sweden. She is currently working on an ARC funded project exploring vulnerable coastal communities in high growth regions.