Your enquiry has been successfully sent
Your enquiry could not be processed. Please contact us directly at www.csiro.au/Contact to make your enquiry
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
ORCID 0000-0002-2232-655X
We have publications by Dr Kirsty Wissing