Urban Futures Symposium February 2023
Symposium 1 | 13-17 February
Symposium 1 | 13-17 February
The atmosphere is easy to ignore but – as rapid changes to it are reinforcing – fundamental to our wellbeing and survival. Atmospheres or aspects of them feature in research in myriad ways, from an enabling condition to an object of analysis to a generative metaphor attentive to emotions, social connections and information flows. This symposium approaches the question of atmospheric futures and its relevance to research through three different sorts of conversations, all of which will sharpen HDR candidates and others’ critical attention to the systems and situations we are (unknowingly) part of.
Celebrating HDR candidates from across the College, please join us for their milestone presentations throughout the week. We also welcome multidisciplinary expertise from local and international researchers to consider concepts of atmospheric futures as part of the symposium’s special events program. Featuring an online keynote presentation by Professor Simon Marvin (Universities of Sheffield and Sydney), a panel discussion and an HDR workshop at RMIT’s City Campus, registration is essential for these sessions.
Thursday 16 February, 7.30pm – 9.00pm, online public lecture
This public, online lecture by Professor Simon Marvin from the Universities of Sheffield and Sydney will explore the emergence of increasingly extended and extreme atmospheric control in the urban context. Drawing on his work across Europe, Australia and Asia, Professor Marvin will examine how atmospheric control is being used to enclose, create and secure specific indoor and outdoor environments for humans, plants and animals and explores what this means for how we use urban space now and into the future.
The thirty-minute lecture will be introduced with a short talk from Professor Lauren Rickards, Director of the Urban Futures Enabling Impact Platform on emerging shifts in the external global atmosphere and related dangerous changes in climate – which is a rapidly evolving situation increasingly being used to justify the radical alteration and extension of our internal atmospheres.
Wednesday 15 February, 12pm – 1:30pm
Building 80, Level 11, Room 10, RMIT City Campus
This in-person panel of RMIT academics will explore the ways that different disciplines conceive of and explore the ‘atmospheres’ that we are all part of.
By juxtaposing some of the leading work on atmospheres underway in DSC, COBL and STEM Colleges, the panel will highlight the different aspects, experiences and meanings of atmospheres that different research approaches draw out.
In doing so, it will encourage RMIT HDR candidates and other researchers to reflect on not only the atmospheres they ingest and contribute to, but how their own research shapes their perception and understanding of the world.
Moderated by Prof Lauren Rickards, Director of the Urban Futures Enabling Impact Platform, the panel will kick off with a series of short talks.
Friday 17 February, 11am – 1pm
Building 80, Level 11, Room 9, RMIT City Campus
The aim of this workshop is to help HDR candidates think critically about a central idea in PhD and other research: the knowledge gap. By using the concept of atmosphere as a metaphor and exemplar area of research, this in-person workshop will draw on the expertise of leading researchers to go beyond the idea of knowledge gaps as areas simply not yet researched, to instead explore more pernicious gaps and their often-neglected causes.
Speakers:
Dr Katherine Clifford (University Colorado Boulder)
Dr Natalya Turkina (RMIT University)
Dr Dana McKay (RMIT University)
Throughout the symposium, HDR candidates from across all disciplines in DSC will present their milestones. Session details for HDR presentations are available via the program below. Please note that information for milestone presenters, chairs and referees is available through the RMIT SharePoint site for HDR Milestone Presentations (RMIT login required).
Please note that presentations will either be given in person or online only. Refer to the location column for details.
| Time | Candidate | Thesis title | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11.00-12.30 | Michael Bourke (CoC) | Djandak Wi (Country Fire): Victorian Traditional Owners and Digital Storytelling as Decolonising Practice | Teams (online) |
| 12.00-1.30 | Jason Foster (2MR) | Neither Black nor White – The Postmodern Politic: La Leyenda Negra in Turn of the Millennium Latin American Cinema | Hybrid: 09.04.32 or Teams (online) |
| 2.30-4.00 | Pippa Bond (CoC) | Between a Rock and a Soft Place: An Exploration into the Blurring of Selfhood and Physical Space | 09.04.03 (in person) |
| 3.00-4.30 | Jiani Yu (CoC) | Understanding Female Chinese International Students' Negotiation of Gender and Cultural Norms | 08.09.06 (in person) |
| 4.30-6.00 | Terans Gunawardhana (2MR) | Implications of Advanced Technologies on the Specialised Property Valuation Profession in Australia | Teams (online) |
Please note that presentations will either be given in person or online only. Refer to the location column for details.
| Time | Candidate | Thesis title | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.30-5.00 | Alston Furtado (2MR) | Circular Business Model for End-of-Life Electric Vehicle Lithium Batteries in Australia | Teams (online) |
Wednesday 15 February, 12pm – 1:30pm
Building 80, Level 11, Room 10, RMIT City Campus
This in-person panel of RMIT academics will explore the ways that different disciplines conceive of and explore the ‘atmospheres’ that we are all part of.
By juxtaposing some of the leading work on atmospheres underway in DSC, COBL and STEM Colleges, the panel will highlight the different aspects, experiences and meanings of atmospheres that different research approaches draw out.
In doing so, it will encourage RMIT HDR candidates and other researchers to reflect on not only the atmospheres they ingest and contribute to, but how their own research shapes their perception and understanding of the world.
Moderated by Prof Lauren Rickards, Director of the Urban Futures Enabling Impact Platform, the panel will kick off with a series of short talks.
Please note that presentations will either be given in person or online only. Refer to the location column for details.
| Time | Candidate | Thesis title | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12.00-1.30 | Emilie Collyer (3MR) | Worth While Writing: Articulating New Ways to Value Feminist Creative Practice | 09.04.32 (in person) |
| 2.30-4.00 | Anne Carson (3MR) | George Sand (and Me): An Auto/Biography | 09.04.32 (in person) |
| 4.30-6.00 | Jessica Laing (CoC) | Re-imagining First Nations Screenwriting and Cinema Discourse in the Australian Context: A Critical Approach to Writing an Experimental First Nations Feature Film Comedy Screenplay | Teams (online) |
Thursday 16 February, 7.30pm – 9.00pm, online public lecture.
This public, online lecture by Professor Simon Marvin from the Universities of Sheffield and Sydney will explore the emergence of increasingly extended and extreme atmospheric control in the urban context. Drawing on his work across Europe, Australia and Asia, Professor Marvin will examine how atmospheric control is being used to enclose, create and secure specific indoor and outdoor environments for humans, plants and animals and explores what this means for how we use urban space now and into the future.
The thirty-minute lecture will be introduced with a short talk from Professor Lauren Rickards, Director of the Urban Futures Enabling Impact Platform on emerging shifts in the external global atmosphere and related dangerous changes in climate – which is a rapidly evolving situation increasingly being used to justify the radical alteration and extension of our internal atmospheres.
Please note that presentations will either be given in person or online only. Refer to the location column for details.
| Time | Candidate | Thesis title | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11.00-12.30 | Elhan Uzun (CoC) | Translators as Ear Witness: Towards Best Practice in Forensic Translation and Transcription | Teams (online) |
| 11.00-12.30 | Donna Teekens (CoC) | School Social Workers: Working with Youth Suicide in Australian Secondary Schools | Teams (online) |
| 11.30-12.30 | Chansereiyut Cheng (3MR) | Gendered Vulnerabilities and Adaptation to Climate Change of Male and Female Headed Households of Tonle Sap Riverine Communities in Cambodia | 37.05.02 (in person) |
| 3.30-5.00 | Star Welis (CoC) | The Effects of Social Media and Visibility on the Adult Entertainment and Sexual Wellbeing Industries | Teams (online) |
Friday 17 February, 11am – 1pm
Building 80, Level 11, Room 9, RMIT City Campus
The aim of this workshop is to help HDR candidates think critically about a central idea in PhD and other research: the knowledge gap. By using the concept of atmosphere as a metaphor and exemplar area of research, this in-person workshop will draw on the expertise of leading researchers to go beyond the idea of knowledge gaps as areas simply not yet researched, to instead explore more pernicious gaps and their often-neglected causes:
Please note that presentations will either be given in person or online only. Refer to the location column for details.
| Time | Candidate | Thesis title | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9.30-11.00 | Rasheeda Wilson (CoC) | The Tale of Munya and the Djinni Prince: Exploring Australian-Muslim Writing Practice through Islamic Cosmology | Teams (online) |
| 2.00-3.30 | Sophie Hartley (3MR) | Speculative Carbon Cultures? Regenerative Finance and Climate Action | Teams (online) |
This symposium is a collaboration between the College of Design and Social Context and the Urban Futures Enabling Impact Platform.
Acknowledgement of Country
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.
Acknowledgement of Country
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.