UQ cultural studies director

The University of Queensland’s Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies has welcomed Professor Gay Hawkins as its new director. Hawkins was previously deputy director and professorial research fellow in the centre for two years. She has published widely on cultural engagements with the environment, practices of everyday life, media policy and institutions, and theories of materiality and political processes. Hawkins said the key area of research for the centre will be environmental humanities. “Cultural studies offer great insights into how everyday ways of living or practices are implicated in big problems such as climate change or water security,” she said. The university said that over the past 12 years the centre has played a leading role in supporting emerging research fields in the new humanities and is on the cutting-edge of contemporary humanities research internationally.