Dr Elizabeth Kath

Elizabeth is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies. She has a political science background and now works within the interdisciplinary field of global studies. Thematically, she is interested in how people traverse boundaries of difference in the global era, including theories of reconciliation, intercultural communication, and social inclusion/exclusion. Regionally, she specialises in Latin America and the Caribbean (particularly Brazil, Cuba and Mexico). Elizabeth also has a deep interest in Latin American migrant communities in Australia, and Australia's engagement with Latin America more broadly, which was the focus of a pioneering book – Australian-Latin American Relations: New Links in A Changing Global Landscape (2016). She has worked on wellbeing, social inclusion and cross-cultural projects in favela communities in Porto Alegre and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She has fieldwork experience in Mexico and Cuba. This has included a major study of the social and political dimensions of Cuba's public health system, which explored the system's institutional arrangements and the formal and informal ways in which Cubans navigate and negotiate access health care, and was published in a highly acclaimed book Social Relations and the Cuban Health Miracle (2010 Transaction – re-released 2017 Routledge).

Elizabeth speaks Spanish and Portuguese and has lived and researched Latin America intermittently. While at RMIT, Elizabeth has played a key role in establishing 'Global Reconciliation', a global network of partners around the world that focuses on researching and promoting 'reconciliation', or 'dialogue across difference'.

Elizabeth's work has been published in books, academic journals, and presented at international conferences around the world. She has received several awards and fellowships and has been reported widely in radio, TV and print media. Elizabeth maintains strong collaborative research partnerships across numerous Australian and international universities and has worked with a range of industry partners. She regularly serves as a referee for academic journals and both undergraduate and higher degree research theses. 

Academic interest areas:

• Globalization 
• Latin American and Caribbean society, politics and culture 
• Australian-Latin American relations / Latin American migrants in Australia
• Global health
• Reconciliation
• Social inclusion
• Migration
• Intercultural communication 

Research supervision

Elizabeth is a registered research supervisor for Honours, Masters and PhD projects.

Teaching Activities 

Elizabeth currently teaches courses in the Bachelor of International Studies. 

Industry & Community Engagement

• Board Member – Global Reconciliation 
• Board Member – South Sudan Health Matters
• Chair & Board Member – Damion Drapac Foundation 
• Chair, Australian National Training Panel, Duke of Edinburgh Award
• Co-Director – Hola Melbourne Festival of Latin American Culture & Ideas

• PhD, University of Queensland (UQ), School of Political Science and International Studies
• Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours (Political Science), UQ
• Bachelor of Arts (Journalism and Government), UQ

Selected media

• Australian Institute of International Affairs: Reading Room (Review of 'Australian-Latin American Relations') 
• RMIT Media Interview on 'Australian-Latin American Relations'
• Mexican book launch for 'Australian-Latin American Relations: New Links in a Changing Global Landscape' held at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) 
• Centre for Global Research: Thinking through the Headlines (interview on Barack Obama's visit to Cuba) 
• The Conversation, "Australia finally "Discovers" Latin America: Time Now to Forge Relationships"
• The Conversation, "Party Time: how carnaval does not paint an accurate picture of modern Brazil"  

Selected media covering action research project 'Changing the Score: An Australia-Brazil Sport for Reconciliation Exchange' 

• Sharing Indigenous Culture: A Highlight of Rio 
• ALABC 'Changing the Score' An Australia-Brazil Sport for Reconciliation Journey'.
• Sportanddev.org  'Working together towards reconciliation' 
• Times Higher Education (UK) and the Chronicle of Higher Education (US) (PDF)

Selected media covering Elizabeth's UN Global Compact Cities Programme research visit to Porto Alegra: 

• Correio do Povo, "Australian UN Researcher Visits Vila Chocolatão: the Australian accompanies the community's resettlement process" 
• Prefeitura de Porto Alegre, "UN Researcher Praises Experience of Vila Chocolatão" 
• Sul21, "Researcher linked with UN visits the new Vila Chocolatão" (fifth story from top) 

Radio interview. 774 ABC Melbourne. 'Afternoons with Richard Stubbs'.  Interview with Richard Stubbs about the book Social Relations and the Cuban Health Miracle. 

Radio interview. 3CR 'Palestine Remembered'. Interview with Yousef Alreemawi about the book Social Relations and the Cuban Health Miracle. 

Mention of Social Relations and the Cuban Health Miracle in 'Letters to the Editor' in the leading journal Science. The letter from Katherine Hirschfeld titled 'Cuban Health Care: Consider the Source,' recommends the book as one of the "small but compelling array of recent publications in the social sciences" that critically analyse some of the common assumptions about healthcare in Cuba. (Science 2010: Vol. 329. no. 5992, pp. 627 – 628).

Elizabeth's projects under the umbrella of Global Reconciliation have been featured in many print, radio and television media outlets around the world including: The Age, SBS World News, Jordan Times, Fox News, Sunday Observer, Times Newspaper, Rupavahini TV (Sri Lanka, National coverage), Derena TV.