Lesley Head

{{short description|Australian geographer researching human-environment relations}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = Lesley Head | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|FASSA|FAHA|size=100}} | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Emeritus Professor Lesley Head, at the Thomson Oration, Royal Geographical Society of Queensland, Spring Hill, 2 May 2023.jpg | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = Emeritus Professor Lesley Head, delivering the Thomson Oration, Royal Geographical Society of Queensland, Spring Hill, 2 May 2023 | birth_name =  | birth_date =  | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | home_town = | other_names = | siglum = | pronounce = | citizenship = | fields = Sustainability, Archaeology, Geography | workplaces = {{Plainlist| * University of Melbourne * University of Wollongong * University of Gothenburg (2012–2014) * Kristianstad University (2005–2006) }} | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = Monash University | thesis_title =  | thesis_url =  | thesis_year =  | doctoral_advisor =  | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = {{Plainlist| * Australian Laureate Fellowship (2010) }} | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website = {{URL|http://www.lesleyhead.com/}} | footnotes = }}

'''Lesley Head''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|FASSA|FAHA}} is an Australian geographer specialising in human-environment relations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.uowblogs.com/ausccer/2013/09/24/meet-professor-lesley-head/|title=Meet Professor Lesley Head {{!}} Conversations with ACCESS (formerly AUSCCER)|website=www.uowblogs.com|access-date=2018-12-31}}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> She is active in geographical debates about the relationship between humans and nature, using concepts and analytical methods from physical geography, archaeology and cultural geography. She retired from the University of Melbourne in 2021.

== Biography == Head grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia and has 3 siblings.<ref name="Lesley Head">{{Cite web|url=https://www.womeninresearch.org.au/lesley-head|title = Lesley Head}}</ref> She completed her doctoral degree at Monash University in Melbourne.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.assa.edu.au/fellows/775/|title=Fellows Detail: Professor Lesley Head|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-31}}</ref> She was in the Victorian public service for two years, then became a tutor at Monash, then was offered a lectureship at the University of Wollongong.

She became a professor of geography at the University of Wollongong and spent 28 years there, also serving as department head and directing the Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research (AUSCCER).

She has also worked in Sweden, as King Carl XVI Gustaf Visiting professor of Environmental Sciences at Hogskölan Kristianstad (Kristianstad University), from 2005 to 2006.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://handels.gu.se/english/about-the-School/visiting-professor-programme/former-visiting-professors/lesley-head/|title=Lesley Head - School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Sweden|website=Göteborgs universitet|language=en|access-date=2018-12-31}}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

In 2016 she moved to Melbourne to chair the School of Geography at the University of Melbourne, with the title of Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor. She retired and became Professorial Fellow in 2021 when the school was disbanded and merged.

She is a former president of the Institute of Australian Geographers and has chaired the National Committee for Geography of the Australian Academy of Science. In 2020 she was elected president of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Australian Academy of the Humanities |date=2020-11-24 |title=New Academy President to champion Humanities' role in tackling climate change |url=https://humanities.org.au/our-community/new-academy-president-to-champion-humanities-role-in-tackling-climate-change/ |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=Australian Academy of the Humanities |language=en-AU}}</ref>

== Expertise == Head began her research career using palaeoecology and archaeology to study long term changes in the Australian landscape, then becoming more interested in human-environment relations and moving to research Aboriginal land use, ethnobotany and fire.

More recently, she has focused on relationships between humans and plants, such as backyard gardens, and issues of sustainability and climate change.<ref name=":0" />

She has been a supporter and mentor of women in academia.<ref name="Lesley Head"/>

== Awards and honors== * J P Thomson Medal, Royal Geographical Society of Queensland<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thomson Medal Presentation and Thomson Oration: The Social Life of Australian Nature: the case of Barka/Darling River ecocide |url=https://www.rgsq.org.au/event-5246498 |access-date=2023-05-02 |website=Royal Geographical Society of Queensland}}</ref> * Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor, University of Melbourne (2016–2021) * Vega medal, Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography (2015) * Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow.<ref name=":1" />(2010–2014) * Fellow, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (2011).<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Academy Fellow: Professor Lesley Head FASSA, FAHA|url=https://socialsciences.org.au/academy-fellow/?sId=0032v000033l9U0AAI|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-10-09|website=Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia|language=en-US}}</ref> * King Carl XVI Gustaf Visiting professor of Environmental Sciences (2005–2006) * Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (2004)<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Fellow Profile: Lesley Head |url=https://humanities.org.au/fellows/fellow-profile/?fellow_id=398 |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2024-05-29 |website=Australian Academy of the Humanities |language=en-AU}}</ref>

== Publications (books) == * Head, L. 2025. ''Beyond Green: The social life of Australian nature''. Melbourne University Publishing. {{ISBN|9780522880632}} * Cumpston, Z., Fletcher, M. S. & Head, L. 2022. ''Plants: Past, Present and Future''. Thames & Hudson Australia. {{ISBN|9781760761875}} * Head, L., Saltzman, K., Setten, G. and Stenseke, M. (eds). 2017. Nature, ''Temporality and Environmental Management: Scandinavian and Australian perspectives on people and landscapes''. London and New York: Routledge. *Head, L. 2016. ''Hope and Grief in the Anthropocene: Re-conceptualising human–nature relations.'' London and New York: Routledge. {{ISBN|9781138826441}} *Head, L., Atchison, J., Buckingham, K. and Phillips, C. (eds). 2016. ''Vegetal Politics: Belonging, practices and places''. London and New York: Routledge. *Gibson, C., Farbotko, C., Gill, N., Head, L. and Waitt, G. 2013. ''Household Sustainability: Challenges and Dilemmas in Everyday Life''. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. *Head, L., Atchison, J. and Gates, A. 2012. ''Ingrained: A human bio-geography of wheat.'' Ashgate. {{ISBN| 9781409437871}} *Head, L. and Muir, P. 2007. ''Backyard. Nature and Culture in Suburban Australia''. Wollongong: University of Wollongong Press, Halstead Press.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/8417420|title=Backyard : nature and culture in suburban Australia|last1=Head|first1=Lesley|last2=Muir|first2=Pat|date=2007|publisher=Wollongong : University of Wollongong Press|isbn=9781920831516|language=English}}</ref> *Head, L. 2000. ''Cultural Landscapes and Environmental Change''. London: Arnold.{{ISBN|978-0-340-73113-0}} *Head, L. 2000. ''Second Nature. The history and implications of Australia as Aboriginal landscape.'' New York: Syracuse University Press.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://australianarchaeologicalassociation.com.au/journal/review-of-second-nature-the-history-and-implications-of-australia-as-aboriginal-landscape-by-lesley-head/|title=Review of 'Second Nature: The History and Implications of Australia as Aboriginal Landscape' by Lesley Head {{!}} Australian Archaeological Association {{!}} AAA|website=australianarchaeologicalassociation.com.au|access-date=2018-12-31}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.lesleyhead.com/ Official website] * {{google scholar id|yADVr7QAAAAJ}} * {{twitter|proflesleyhead}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Head, Lesley}} Category:Living people Category:Academic staff of the University of Wollongong Category:Academic staff of the University of Melbourne Category:Monash University alumni Category:Australian geographers Category:21st-century geographers Category:Human geographers Category:Women geographers Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Australian women academics Category:Australian women archaeologists Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities Category:Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia

Lesley Head

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