Researcher

Keywords

Fields of Research (FoR)

Environment and culture, Environmental education curriculum and pedagogy, Sociology and social studies of science and technology, Climate change impacts and adaptation, Environmental communication, Creative arts, media and communication curriculum and pedagogy, Ecological impacts of climate change and ecological adaptation

Biography

Tania Leimbach is an education-focused academic who bridges teaching, research and practice within the broad field of environmental studies. A member of the Environment & Society Group at UNSW, she is Program Convenor for the Master of Environmental Management (MEM), a program focused on preparing future change-makers to rethink the world through restorative approaches. Convening several courses in the program, her teaching consistently...view more

Tania Leimbach is an education-focused academic who bridges teaching, research and practice within the broad field of environmental studies. A member of the Environment & Society Group at UNSW, she is Program Convenor for the Master of Environmental Management (MEM), a program focused on preparing future change-makers to rethink the world through restorative approaches. Convening several courses in the program, her teaching consistently engages students with socio-ecological challenges as historically and culturally situated. With a strong profile in climate change pedagogy, Tania has designed and led curriculum in climate change education that is now used across universities, secondary schools and local government settings. Her teaching and research focus on inclusive, creative and action-oriented approaches that support learners and educators to engage meaningfully with climate and environmental challenges.

Tania’s research sits at the intersection of environmental humanities, ecocultural studies and environmental education. She contributes to inter- and transdisciplinary scholarship exploring affect, agency, and justice in human and more-than-human worlds. Her PhD thesis, Sustainability and the Material Imagination in Australian Cultural Organisations, examined how museums and contemporary cultural institutions enact environmental leadership amid the political and material complexities of the Anthropocene. 

Based at the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney, Tania completed her PhD in an environment focused on applied, project-based sustainability research. This strengthened her systems-based understanding of sustainability challenges across areas including renewable energy, regenerative agriculture, food security, circular economy and social justice. Alongside her academic work, Tania has collaborated on research and consultancy projects with local government, industry partners, the regenerative agriculture organisation Soils for Life, and the Indigenous-led social enterprise Old Ways, New. An experienced social researcher, she works with qualitative methods including ethnography, case studies, focus groups, program monitoring and evaluation, and social impact assessment.


My Awards

2024 ADA ECAN, Highly Commended for Teaching Excellence


My Research Activities

Tania's research areas and activities include:

  1. Environmental and climate communication
  2. Regenerative agriculture, diverse farming systems and multispecies relations
  3. Climate Change Education (CCE)
  4. Arts-Science research and practice
  5. Transdisciplinary research methods and transition theory

My Research Supervision


Areas of supervision

  • Honours and Masters co-supervision and co-advising
  • Available for reading HDR theses

My Teaching

I am interested in learning in all its forms and have 15 years teaching experience in higher education. Committed to the design and delivery of high quality and innovative learning experiences, I continue to hone my skills in facilitating student engagement to enhance learning outcomes and retention, support full-bodied learning communities, extend creative problem-solving, engage with complexity, and incorporate relevant assessments with meaningful feedback processes.

In UNSW’s Masters of Environmental Management program, I convene:

IEST6911 Climate Crisis and Action

IEST5005 Environmental Communication

IEST7200 Demystifying Environmental Law: From Regulation to Rights of Nature

IEST5021 Corporations, Capitalism and Transforming Environments

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