Blog icon

Dr Kirsty Wissing

https://people.csiro.au/W/K/kirsty-wissing

Contact

Please enter a valid first name

Please enter a valid last name

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter your message to send to the contact

Contact details:

Biography

Kirsty is a Postdoctoral Fellow (Social Science) in CSIRO's Maximising Impact Application Domain as part of the organisation's Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform. Trained as a social scientist in the discipline of anthropology, Kirsty's postdoctoral project is a qualitative application of Indigenous biocultural knowledge and values in synthetic biology.

Kirsty was awarded a PhD (Anthropology) at the Australian National University in July 2021. Her PhD considered customary socio-religious attitudes to and uses of water and other fluids in relation to ideas of cleanliness/purity, resource control and morality. Based on 14 months of ethnographic field research in Ghana, Kirsty's thesis sought to bring local Akwamu values into dialogue with larger national issues of environmental resource responsibility, energy production and socio-political power.

Kirsty has previous research experience with Australian Indigenous communities under Native Title and Aboriginal Land Rights legislation in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, having worked for the Central Land Council (CLC) and Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation (YMAC) respectively. She has also conducted research into and managed programs about the petroleum, mining and energy industries in Ghana for the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP). As a consultant within an inter-disciplinary team, Kirsty has compared customary law, cultural heritage protection and mining in Ghana and Western Australia for the University of Western Australia and the International Mining for Development Centre.

Academic Qualifications

  • 2021

    Doctor of Philosophy (Anthropology)
    Australian National University

  • 2008

    Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours)
    Monash University

Achievements and Awards

  • 2019-2019

    Endeavour Research Leadership Award (hosted by the Global South Studies Center, University of Cologne)
    Department of Education, Skills and Employment, Australian Government

  • 2017-2017

    Cherry Gertzel / African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific Postgraduate Prize
    African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific

  • 2016-2016

    Endeavour Research Leadership Award (hosted by the Department of African Studies and Anthropology, University of Birmingham)
    Department of Education, Skills and Employment, Australian Government

  • 2015-2015

    Marie Reay Prize in Anthropology
    Department of Anthropology, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University

Current Roles

  • Postdoctoral Fellow - Social Science, CSIRO
    Researching Indigenous perspectives of synthetic biology

Grants

  • 2020-2020

    Conference Funding, Wenner-Gren and the European Association of Social Anthropologists.

  • 2019-2019

    Endeavour Leadership Award, Department of Education, Skills and Employment, Australian Government

  • 2019-2019

    Conference Funding, Wenner-Gren Foundation and the Association of Social Anthropologists of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth

  • 2018-2018

    Vice-Chancellor's Higher Degree Research Travel Grant, Australian National University

  • 2016-2016

    Endeavour Leadership Award, Department of Education, Skills and Employment, Australian Government

  • 2015-2019

    Research Training Program Stipend Scholarship (formerly the Australia Postgraduate Award), Department of Education, Skills and Employment, Australian Government

  • 2015-2015

    Travel Grant, Australian Anthropological Society

  • 2008-2008

    Faculty of Arts Honours Study Assistance Scholarship, Monash University

Other highlights

  • 2016-2019

    Peer reviewed publications (please see ORCID link below for details).

  • 2015-2021

    Invited to present at: the Alice Springs Anthropology Forum, the Australian National University, Goethe University, the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, the Royal Anthropological Institute, the University of Birmingham, the University of Cologne, the University of Ghana, the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland.

  • 2015-2020

    Accepted conference papers presented at: the African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific (AfSAAP), the African Studies Association of the United Kingdom (ASAUK), the Association of Social Anthropologists of the United Kingdom (ASA), the Australian Anthropological Society (AAS), the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) and Synthetic Biology Australasia (SBA).

Professional Experiences

  • 2018-2019

    Research Assistant
    Australian National University

  • 2018-2018

    Project Manager – Tanami Gas Pipeline Project
    Central Land Council

  • 2018-2018

    Guest Tutor
    Australian National University

  • 2015-2016

    Research Assistant
    Australian National University

  • 2014-2015

    Consultant Anthropologist
    University of Western Australia / International Mining for Development Centre

  • 2014-2015

    Programs Manager / Research Officer (Australian Volunteer for International Development)
    Africa Center for Energy Policy

  • 2011-2014

    Anthropologist
    Central Land Council

  • 2009-2010

    Anthropologist
    Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation

Publications

We have publications by Dr Kirsty Wissing