Contact details +6469516215
Associate Professor Kelly Dombroski BA (Env Stud), MPhil (Devt Stud), PhD,
Associate Professor
Doctoral Supervisor School of People, Environment and PlanningMy particular fields of research include:
- Diverse Economies and solidarity economy
- Community Economies
- Development and postdevelopment thinking
- Feminist geography and theory
- China and Southeast Asia
- Care work
- Waste and waste prevention
- Science and Technology Studies (STS)
I am a founding member of the and a fellow of the New Zealand Geographical Society.
I work on funded projects with both theoretical and practical components. My work on the enabled me to investigate community organisations contributing to urban wellbeing in holistic ways. After delivering outputs for community such as reports and events, I then work to develop new theories of economic and social change beginning with collective action. I have developed theoretical approaches to the topics of care and commoning in community economies. My current work is organised around my Rutherford Discovery Fellowship project Transitioning to Caring Economies through Transformative Community Investment. This research programme includes community partners such as Te Hiko Centre for Community Innovation, Repair Trust Aotearoa, Para Kore, Zero Waste Network, Chinhari youth group in Chhattisgarh, India. I've also worked with Life in Vacant Spaces, a temporary use brokerage organisation in Christchurch.
My book (University of Minnesota Press, 2024) was written based on fieldwork on urban care work in the city of Xining, China, and online groups working to change their waste behaviours around infant hygiene in Australia and New Zealand. The book develops a theory of change that connects collective scale care-led action with more widespread social change, drawing on assemblage thinking, community economies, and postdevelopment theory. Critics have said that the book: "offers hopeful and creative paths to socioecological change by guarding human and more-than-human life. This is a transformative book for our troubled times and essential for research on contemporary care practices" (Maria Puig de la Bellacasa). The book is part of the
I also work more generally in the area of geography. As vice-president of the New Zealand Geographical Society, I am working on a campaign to educate students and the general public on geography as a discipline that helps us 'understand the world and the shape the future', particularly with reference to human-environment relations. In 2024, I published the co-edited textbook Routledge, 2024) with colleagues in the UK and Hong Kong. We sought to shape the future of geography, highlighting diversity, decolonisation, and human-environment relations among other topics, designed for contemporary students encountering the topic for the first time -- yet deep enough to challenge them throughout their whole degree (with more than 70 chapters!).
I'm currently working on a series of articles and a book that explore the interaction between subjectivity -- our sense of ourselves as actors - and collective action, particularly attuned to times where hope can seem distant. Some of this work looks at spiritual and mindfulness practices that activists use to individually and collectively sustain their work.
My research work is in community development in Asia-Pacific. I use qualitative research methods to investigate diverse economies and community economies, the things people do to support their livelihoods that are usually ignored by economists. I publish in the areas of feminist geography, community economies, diverse economies, and urban commons.
Professional
Qualifications
- Bachelor in Arts (Environmental Studies) - 黑料网 (2002)
- Masters in Philosophy (Development Studies) - 黑料网 (2005)
- Doctor of Philosophy - Western Sydney University/University of Western Sydney (2013)
Fellowships and Memberships
- Member, Community Economies Collective (Member) (2017)
Certifications and Registrations
- Licence, Supervisor, 黑料网
Prizes and Awards
- University of Cantebury Teaching Award - University of Cantebury (2020)
- College of Science Emerging Research Award - University of Cantebury (2017)
- President's Award for Emerging Research in Geography - University of Cantebury (2017)
Research Expertise
Research Interests
I carry out research that supports community-led transition to postcarbon and postcapitalist economies that better enable the wellbeing of people and planet. My Rutherford Fellowship is entitled Transitioning to caring economies through transformative community investment and it builds on my work with communities in Aotearoa New Zealand and throughout Asia-Pacific. I use action research, ethnographic, and feminist methodologies. I am a member of the Community Economies Institute and co-editor (with JK Gibson-Graham) of The Handbook of Diverse Economies (Edward Elgar, 2020).
I work on funded projects with both theoretical and practical components. My work on the enabled me to investigate community organisations contributing to urban wellbeing in holistic ways. After delivering outputs for community such as reports and events, I then work to develop new theories of economic and social change beginning with collective action. I have developed theoretical approaches to the topics of care and commoning in community economies. My current work is organised around my Rutherford Discovery Fellowship project Transitioning to Caring Economies through Transformative Community Investment. This research programme includes community partners such as Te Hiko Centre for Community Innovation, Repair Trust Aotearoa, Para Kore, Zero Waste Network, Chinhari youth group in Chhattisgarh, India. I've also worked with Life in Vacant Spaces, a temporary use brokerage organisation in Christchurch.
My book (University of Minnesota Press, 2024) was written based on fieldwork on urban care work in the city of Xining, China, and online groups working to change their waste behaviours around infant hygiene in Australia and New Zealand. The book develops a theory of change that connects collective scale care-led action with more widespread social change, drawing on assemblage thinking, community economies, and postdevelopment theory. Critics have said that the book: "offers hopeful and creative paths to socioecological change by guarding human and more-than-human life. This is a transformative book for our troubled times and essential for research on contemporary care practices" (Maria Puig de la Bellacasa). The book is part of the
I am associate editor of and
Thematics
Design 鈥� for Commerce, Community and Culture, Health and Well-being, Future Food Systems
Area of Expertise
Field of research codes
Built Environment And Design (120000):
Community Planning (120501):
Economic Geography (160401):
Economics (140000):
Heterodox Economics (149903):
Human Geography (160400):
Human Geography not elsewhere classified (160499):
Other Economics (149900):
Social and Cultural Geography (160403):
Studies In Human Society (160000):
Urban and Regional Planning (120500):
Urban and Regional Studies (excl. Planning) (160404)
Keywords
Community economies
Diverse economies
Community research
Participatory action research
Urban transformation
Social and economic transformation
Postcapitalist futures
Waste and waste prevention
Care labour and care practices
Research Projects
Current Projects
Project Title: Rutherford Discovery Fellowship - Transitioning to caring economies through transformative community investments
Date Range: 2022 - 2027
Funding Body: Royal Society of New Zealand
Project Team:
- A/Pro Kelly Dombroski - Project Leader
Research Outputs
Journal
[Journal article]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
[Journal article]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
[Journal article]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
[Journal article]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
[Journal article]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
Book
[Authored Book]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
[Edited Book]Edited by: Dombroski, K.
[Chapter]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
[Chapter]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
Thesis
[Masters Thesis]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
Report
[Technical Report]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
[Technical Report]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
[Technical Report]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
[Technical Report]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
Conference
[Conference]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
[Conference]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
Other
[Other]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
[Other]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
[Other]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
[Other]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
[Other]Authored by: Dombroski, K.
Consultancy and Languages
Languages
-
Te Reo M膩ori
Last used: 2024
Spoken ability: Average
Written ability: Average -
Mandarin
Last used: 2024
Spoken ability: Average
Written ability: Needs work
Teaching and Supervision
Teaching Statement
I currently teach in the planning programme, working with Dr April Bennett to redesign the postgraduate Environmental Planning course around Te Tiriti and mauri ora. I contribute to the new course, Geographies of Aotearoa.
My teaching style is well-organised, inclusive, and attentive to scaffolding student learning throughout courses. I actively teach writing and other university skills within my classes.
As a research fellow, m othery teaching contributions are mainly as guest lecturer or facilitator in other courses. I also design and teach intensive . I am the co-editor of the a globally renowned textbook for teaching human geography. I am the co-editor of the an accessible guide to the field of diverse economies. I have previously won a .
Graduate Supervision Statement
I am an experienced supervisor with an enabling style. Where possible, I use group and cohort supervision alongside regular individual meetings. I explicitly teach writing skills and disciplinary expectations. I'm currently supervising projects that relate to my Rutherford Discovery Fellowship Transitioning to Caring Economies through Transformative Community Investment.
Current external supervisions
- PhD - McLeod H:Local Food Security and Local Food Initiatives (Lincoln University)
- PhD - Laird L: Community economies, work and the commons (University of Canterbury)
- PhD - Wragg U: Gender, power and land innovation: The case of the Cook Islands and Fiji (University of Canterbury)
- PhD -- Zibaiah, A: Performative Development, Image Cultivation and Gender Inclusion (University of Canterbury).
- PhD - Peryman B:The metabolic rift: Urban farming and transformative change in organic waste infrastructure. NSC funded.Partner: Te P膩 o te R膩kaihaut奴 (AUT)
Completed
- Masters in Resource and Environmental Planning - McClintock, Z: What is the work of P膩keh膩? Exploring P膩keh膩 ‘doing the work’ to support M膩ori engagement in planning processes in Aotearoa New Zealand. (黑料网).
- MA Geography - Lilly, B: Narratives of ‘failed places’: the case of P膩tea. (黑料网)
- PhD - Garcia D: HOW TO MAKE A MAPMAKER An Ethnography of a Geographic Information System (University of Canterbury)
- PhD - Haryani RA: Redefining Women’s Participation in Leadership on Disaster Preparedness and Response in ASEAN - Case studies: Indonesia and the Philippines (2022)
- PhD - Do HT: Embodied Knowing for Climate Change Adaptation Interventions: Moving beyond monitoring and evaluation in Thai Binh, Vietnam. (2019)
- PhD - Dorji C: Decent Livelihoods: Toward Sustainable and Equitable Rural Lives for Tibetan Peasants (2021)
- PhD - Hasan MM: Youth Participation and Green Space in Dhaka
- PhD - Liu A: An ordinary China: Reading ‘small-town youth’ for difference in a northwestern county town (2021)
- PhD - Mutambo L: Crowdsourcing a Spatial Data Infrastructure (2020)
- PhD - Sepie A: Entangled fields: decolonisation, worldviews and knowledge (2018)
- PhD - Waliuzzaman S: A Commoning Perspective on Urban Informal Settlements in Dhaka: A case study of Kallyanpur Slum (2020)
- PhD - Weastall LM: Canterbury farmers' traditional ecological knowledge (2020)
- Masters - Asmarani P: The contribution of local farmers’ markets to social resilience. (2022)
- Masters - Chitondo M: Bringing data back to community after completion of research: A case study of Ndola, Copperbelt Province, Zambia (2017)
- Masters - Goburdhone S: People Plants and Soil: An Ethnography of Urban Farming in Christchurch, New Zealand (2021)
- Masters - Kienja K: Perceptions of informal settlement dwellers on urban waterways and their impacts on water quality for downstream users: case study of Nairobi (2017)
- Masters - Pem S: Understanding local perceptions and values towards Thimphu River, Bhutan (2018)
- Honours - Barnes M: Barriers Preventing Decentralised Urban Composting Initiatives in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington (2021)
- Honours - Jones S: The ethical issues with the Earthquake Comissions insurance policy, EQCover (2015)
- Honours - Pickering E: Diverse Economies in Xinjiang (2015)
Associate Professor Kelly Dombroski is available for Masters and Doctorial supervision.
Summary of Doctoral Supervision
| Position | Current | Completed |
|---|---|---|
| Main Supervisor | 1 | 0 |
Current Doctoral Supervision
Main Supervisor of:
-
Swarnima Kriti
-
Doctor of Philosophy
The Role of Care and Commoning in Postdevelopment Practice: Working with Te Hiko, New Zealand and Chinhari, India