Dr Theresa Ashford is a Lecturer in Geography and Sustainability at UniSC whose passion is exploring human-nature relations through a geo-ethical lens. Her undergraduate and post graduate education is in Geography and spans science, human and cultural geography domains. She has worked in the regional planning field in Canada and her Masters research explored the use and role of public spaces in the support and construction of homeless punk youth identities in Winnipeg, Canada. Her work with homeless youth led her to change careers and move into Senior Education, where she taught Geography and History.

Dr Ashford’s PhD research (2018, Education, UQ) used Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to investigate the emergence of digital ethics in 1:1 classrooms and tracing the role of technology mediating, supporting and translating student behaviour and understandings. This interest in ANT translates into all her geography and sustainability research where she studies human-non-human relations and ethical performances across different applications including habitat protection and conservation (Koala); decarbonisation; and teaching climate change.

Dr Ashford is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and is keenly interested in ethical and socially just pedagogies, nurturing future-oriented thinking, and the shift required to teach in the Anthropocene.