Kristen Lyons

Professor Kristen Lyons is a public intellectual with over twenty years experience in research, teaching and service that delivers national and international impacts on issues that sit at the intersection of sustainability and development, as well as the future of higher education. Trained as a sociologist, Kristen is comfortable working in transdisciplinary teams to deliver socially just outcomes, including for some of the world's most vulnerable communities. Kristen works regularly in Uganda, Solomon Islands and Australia, and her work is grounded in a rights-based approach. In practice, this means centring the rights and interests of local communities, including Indigenous peoples, in her approach to research design, collaboration, and impacts and outcomes. Kristen is also a Senior Research Fellow with the Oakland Institute. Climate Change and Human Rights: Responses to climate change deliver significant impacts at the local level. I lead cross country research that examines the impacts of carbon trading initiatives - one response to climate change - for local communities. Transdisciplinary and Indigenous Rights: I am engaged in research that examines the social, legal and policy frameworks to support Australia to meet its Indigenous rights obligations, especially in the context of a climate changing world. Transforming Universities for the Public Good: Today’s university system is increasingly market driven, with institutional requirements that constrain options for public good research and learning. This system stands at odds with the primary and historical role of universities. Higher education movements – including free universities, progressive colleges and civic forums – offer important critical alternatives to this current system. I am engaged in research to analyse a selection of movements, delivering outcomes that will increase knowledge of how alliances and campaigns organise, what their change agenda entails, and how they are transforming universities for the public good.

[2026] Postapocalyptic environmentalism and activist subjectivities in the Dark Mountain Project [2026] The Babatana Rainforest in Solomon Islands: a practice-based field trip for unlearning the world [2025] International Aid and its Role in Shaping Agricultural policy Narratives in Ghana [2024] Mining and fossil-fuel entanglements with the university in an era of climate change: impacts for academic freedom and climate (in)action [2023] A political ecology of farmers’ exposure to pesticides in Ghana [2023] When solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises ignore gender, they harm society and the planet [2023] Response to Schildermans’ Book Review [2023] Babatana rainforest conservation project: a lightning rod for others [2023] Why focusing on our strengths matters: reflections on lea