Cobi has more than a decade of experience working internationally in disaster response and risk reduction, environmental and emerging technologies governance, health promotion, inclusive design and science communication. She shifted to Honourary Senior Lecturer at UNSW to accept a government policy executive role.  

Dr Cobi Calyx joined UNSW from government to catalyse a collaboration between the Centre for Social Impact and UNSW Science about leading science for impact, which evolved into work-integrated learning offered to all science students. In 2022 she joined the Environment and Society Group where she remains affiliated. UNSW sponsored Cobi to become an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, reflecting her teaching expertise. 

Cobi has guest lectured in space governance and worked with related organisations ranging from the Australian Space Agency locally to the United Nations Satellite Centre in Geneva. 

She also catalyses participatory action research and lived experience-led health policy, most recently through codesign of gestational diabetes research. 

Cobi lives on Kaurna land with her family, settlers of British, Dutch, Guernési, Irish and Mauritian Creole heritage. She is multilingual and involved in revival of languages, focused on Kaurna and Guernésiais. She has lived on five continents, including a year with the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact, which informed and shaped her ongoing support for Aboriginal self-determination.