Our team

Professor David Schlosberg – Director

David Schlosberg is Professor of Environmental Politics and Director of the Sydney Environment Institute. His work focuses on environmental, ecological, and climate justice; environment and everyday life; and climate adaptation planning and policy. Professor Schlosberg has worked extensively with local and state governments on just adaptation and resilience planning, the social impacts of climate change, and community-based food systems and policy. At SEI, he is one of the Research Leads on Creating Just Food and Energy Policy, Self organising systems to minimise future disaster risk, Concepts and practices of multispecies justice, and Grounded Imaginaries. 

Professor Schlosberg’s authored and co-authored works include Environmental Justice and the New Pluralism, Defining Environmental Justice, Climate-Challenged Society, and Sustainable Materialism. He is co-editor of both The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society and The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Political Theory. Articles on environmental and climate justice, multispecies justice, just adaptation, and contemporary environmental movements are among the top-cited in multiple journals, including Environmental Politics, Global Environmental Politics, WIREs Climate Change, Ethics and International Affairs, and Contemporary Political Theory. Professor Schlosberg has been a visiting scholar at the London School of Economics, Australian National University, Princeton University, University of Washington, UC Santa Cruz, and University of Manchester, among others.

Professor Danielle Celermajer - Director (Acting)

Danielle Celermajer is a Professor of Sociology and Social Policy in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney, and Deputy Director – Academic at the Sydney Environment Institute.

She is the Director of the Multispecies Justice Project and the Research Lead on Concepts and Practices of Multispecies Justice.

Professor Celermajer lived through the 2019-20 NSW bushfires and wrote of her experience of the “killing of everything”, which she calls “omnicide”. She has been widely published on the topic, including her book Summertime: Reflections on a Vanishing Future. 

Professor Thom van Dooren - Deputy Director - Member Engagement

Thom van Dooren is Professor of Environmental Humanities in the School of Humanities (Discipline of Gender and Cultural Studies) in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Deputy Director – Membership Engagement at the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney.

His research focuses on some of the many philosophical, ethical, cultural, and political issues that arise in the context of species extinction and human entanglements with threatened species and places. These themes are explored in depth in his books: Flight Ways: Life and Loss at the Edge of Extinction (Columbia UP, 2014), The Wake of Crows: Living and Dying in Shared Worlds (Columbia UP, 2019), and A World in a Shell: Snail Stories for a Time of Extinctions (MIT Press, 2022). These books have been translated into various languages and been awarded or shortlisted for a range of prizes, including the Ludwik Fleck Prize of the Society for Social Studies of Science and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award (non-fiction, shortlisted).

Thom is a leading figure in the international discussions and collaborations that are shaping the environmental humanities as a field of teaching and research. With Deborah Bird Rose, he was founding editor of the first journal dedicated to the field, Environmental Humanities (Duke University Press). He has held a Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researchers at the Rachel Carson Centre, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (2014-16) and a Professor II appointment at the Oslo School of Environmental Humanities at the University of Oslo (2020-2022). His research has been funded by a range of other prestigious grants and fellowships, including an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (2017-2021), several ARC Discovery Projects, and a Humboldt Research Award.

Emma Bones - General Manager

Emma Bones is General Manager of the Sydney Environment Institute. With a background in consulting and the not-for-profit sector, she has broad ranging skills across operations, strategy and finance. She has worked as a management consultant, developing strategies and designing operating models for government agencies and not-for-profits, and held senior roles in charities with a focus on building impactful and sustainable organisations.

Emma is a registered Chartered Accountant and a Board member of Groundswell Giving and the Local and Independent News Association.

Kirsten Jackson - Program Manager

Kirsten Jackson is the Program Manager of the Sydney Environment Institute, supporting the strategic delivery of the Institute’s research program, partnership and engagement initiatives, and member capability and development offerings.

With a background in the health and medical, research, and not-for-profit sectors, Kirsten has expertise in managing complex programs of work that bring together research, innovation, education and knowledge translation activities for real world benefits. She is focused on supporting the development of new research projects and genuine collaborations between researchers, industry partners and the community that ensure innovation and impact.

Kirsten is a Digital Health Consultant, and sits on La Trobe University’s Digital Health Advisory Committee. She has held roles at a number of organisations dedicated to translating research and evidence into policy and practice including Cancer Council NSW, the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), the Sax Institute and several Australian Universities.

Genevieve Wright - Senior Project Officer

Genevieve Wright manages some of SEI’s research and strategic projects and its public programming. She is currently leading a project that aims to improve the coordination of climate and biodiversity research at the University of Sydney. Genevieve has a background in project management, communications and filmmaking. She was the Project Officer on SEI’s Grounded Imaginaries project which explored the transformative power of climate imaginaries in empowering communities to take meaningful collective action. The project was in partnership with two Indian organisations, worked alongside eight communities in Australia and India, and mentored 14 youth fellows.

Genevieve holds a Bachelor of Communications majoring in both Media Arts and Production and Journalism from the University of Technology Sydney. She is currently undertaking a Master in Sustainability at the University of Sydney. She is passionate about the transformative power of communication in meeting the challenges of the climate and biodiversity crises and enjoys working alongside a multidisciplinary team of strategists, researchers and external partners.

Eloise Fetterplace - Senior Project Officer

Eloise Fetterplace manages the Institute’s funded schemes. She has a wide range of experience, spanning events, strategic communications, project management and reporting. Eloise has a background in digital marketing and communications with an MA in Communications Management from the University of Technology Sydney specialising in public relations. She is also a University of Sydney Alumna who completed a Bachelor of Arts in Socio-legal Studies.

Eloise is passionate about engaging with the different factors that shape climate inaction and facilitating innovative ways of communicating the climate crisis.

Thanh Whittam - Administration Officer (Finance)

Thanh Whittam manages the institute’s finances and assists with events and travel. Thanh’s diverse background makes her a valued member of SEI’s professional team. She is a graduate of the University of Sydney where she studied Secondary Education and Psychology and has worked in a diversity of sectors including property management, retail management and hospitality.

Thanh has an interest in biodiversity, the impact of climate change on Australia’s native wildlife and ensuring children have a sustainable future.

Suhasini Gunatillaka- Events and Administration Officer

Suhasini Gunatillaka provides event support to ensure SEI’s program of public talks and internal workshops run smoothly. She also supports the team administratively, by managing the office space and the Director’s diary.  

Suhasini graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of International and Global Studies and Honours in English Literature and has a postgraduate qualification in counselling. She has a background primarily in the social services sector: in community housing in administration and project coordination, and in employment services as a counsellor. 

Suhasini is passionate about increasing relational capacity and emotional processing, in the climate movement and change-making spaces, particularly through group facilitation.

Catarina Agostino - Communications and Engagement Officer

Catarina Agostino is the Communications and Engagement Officer, spearheading the communication initiatives of SEI.

Catarina has a passion for effective communication and a background in strategic content creation. She has worked across many diverse roles and organisations, ranging from small businesses, not-for-profits, health and medical research, higher education, and government entities. Committed to impactful storytelling, Catarina has found a niche in research communications and knowledge exchange.

She graduated from the University of Wollongong with a First Class Honours degree in Communication and Media. Her Honours thesis focused on the intersection of feminism, breast cancer, and marketing, and was adapted into a book chapter in The Cultural Politics of Femvertising: Selling Empowerment. Catarina has her sights set on a PhD in the future.