Gay Hawkins

Biography

Professor Gay Hawkins is Professor at the Institute for Culture and Society, University of Werstern Sydney. Until 2015 she was Professorial Research Fellow and Director of the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies in the Faculty of Arts, University of Queensland. Her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees were in Sociology but she has worked in the field of Cultural and Media Studies since the 1990s. She is recognized for research in two distinct areas: cultural institutions, governmentality and formations of public value, and cultural engagements with the environment.
Her books include From Nimbin to Mardi Gras: constructing community arts (1993), The Ethics of Waste (2006), The SBS Story: the challenge of cultural diversity (with Ien Ang and Lamia Dabboussy) (2008) and Accumulation: the material politics of plastic (co-edited with Mike Michael and Jennifer Gabrys) (2013). Recent collaborative research projects include ‘From the Tap to the Bottle: the social and material life of bottled water’ (2009 -2012) and ‘The Skin of Commerce: the role of plastic packaging in the construction of food security, waste and consumer activism’ (2013 2015). As Director of the CCCS Professor Hawkins is involved in a range of national and international research projects and in the development of the research capacities of a range of postdocs and early career researchers based in the centre.