Dr Jennifer Gidley

Key activities

Dr Jennifer Gidley is a Research Fellow in the Global Cities Research Institute. She is a psychologist, educator and internationally recognised researcher in the futures studies field bringing to the program a transdisciplinary understanding of global shifts in culture and consciousness. Her career includes experience as a school and community psychologist, teaching principal, academic teacher and researcher, and consultant, spanning three decades and all educational levels and sectors.

In addition to her research at RMIT she is President of the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF), a global scholarly futures organization that has been operating for over forty years. As President, she is co-convening a landmark conference in Penang, Malaysia, 13th to 15th December, 2011. For more information, see the 21st World Futures Studies Federation Conference website.

Jennifer was an invited Visiting Professor and Advisor to the School for Transformative Leadership in Olomouc University, Olomouc, Czech Republic, in July 2011. The School for Transformative Leadership is funded by the European Social Fund and the Czech Ministry of Education.

She was an invited Visiting Professor at the Centre for International Studies and Research (CERI), Sciences Po, Paris, for two weeks in June 2010. She was undertaking research with a CERI historian on “the history of futures studies.”

Jennifer works globally, creating networks—both conceptual and human—between futures studies and other transversal fields, such as integral studies, global studies, transdisciplinary studies and postformal pedagogies. She is currently based in Melbourne, but travels widely for research collaboration leading to speaking invitations over the last ten years in Australia, Europe (Czech Republic, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Romania, Spain, Sweden), North and South America, Africa (Egypt) and Asia (Malaysia, Shanghai, Taiwan).

See also Jennifer’s profile on Academia.edu

(See also the RMIT Research Repository for links to some of Jennifer's research)

Qualifications

• PhD, Southern Cross University
• Post-Grad. Dip. Psych. Charles Sturt University
• MA (Research), Southern Cross University
• Grad. Cert. TESOL, Bond University
• MA Prelim (Equiv of Psych Hons), University of Melbourne
• Dip Ed, Monash Teachers College
• BA, University of Melbourne

Professional registration

Jennifer is currently registered with the Psychology Board of Australia, Reg. No. PSY 0001359780

Professional interests

National and Global Network Activities

Jennifer is an active member of several national and transnational organisations networking globally in the following positions:

• President: World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF)
• Consultant Advisor to the Australian National Steiner Curriculum team
• Coordinator: Online Centre for Pedagogical Resources in Futures Studies
• International Advisory Board Member: Institute of Integral Studies, Freiburg University, Germany
• Member: Research and Scholarly Activity Forum of Crossfields Institute, UK
• Member: Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE)

International Editorial Board Positions

During 2009 Jennifer was invited to join the editorial boards of several international peer-reviewed academic journals.

• Futures: The Journal of Policy, Planning and Futures Studies - Member of Editorial Board, Published by Elsevier
• Policy Futures in Education - Member of Editorial Board, Published by Symposium Press
• Journal of Futures Studies: Epistemology, Methods, Applied and Alternative Futures - Member of Editorial Board, Published Tamkang University Press, Taipei, Taiwan.
• Integral Review: A Transdisciplinary and Transcultural Journal for New Thought, Research and Praxis - Member of Editorial Board
• Journal of Integral Theory and Practice (JITP) - Member of Editorial Advisory Board, Published by Integral Institute

• RoSE: Research on Steiner Education - Founding Member of both Editorial Board and Editorial Council. New Open Access Journal to be published online through Karlstad University, Sweden.

Research and Scholarship

Research interests

Jennifer has researched and published widely in educational and youth futures, and global socio-cultural change. Her doctoral research in the field of knowledge futures (evolution of consciousness) identified several emerging social science discourses which point to more creative and innovative ways to think about and potentially solve some of the complex global societal challenges of the 21^st century.

Current research interests:

• Educational futures, including broad enculturation processes (such as media and culture) in addition to institutional education (such as schools and universities) and postformal pedagogies;
• Knowledge futures and evolution of consciousness including identifying the emergence of new ways of thinking, new patterns of knowledge creation and circulation, and emerging meta-theories;
• Global psycho-socio-cultural change, including the psychological, social and cultural impacts of rapid global change, and the use of foresight and innovation to design alternative global futures;
• Planetary/global futures, including globalisation and youth culture, emancipatory aspects of globalisation, alter-globalisations and the emergence of a global academic research imaginary.

Accomplishments and awards

International prizes

Won 2009 IAU/Palgrave International Essay Prize (Lead Researcher/Author) Gidley, J. M., Hampson, G. P., Wheeler, L., & Bereded-Samuel, E. (In Press) From Access to Success: An Integrated Approach to Quality Higher Education informed by Social Inclusion Theory and Practice. Essay published in the international journal Higher Education Policy, 2010. RMIT news story.

Academic achievements and awards

• Southern Cross University Chancellor's Medal for Academic Excellence for her PhD completed in 2008
• Outstanding Reviews for PhD Dissertation
• High Distinction for MA (Research)
• Distinction for Post-Grad. Dip. Psych
• Distinction for Grad. Cert. TESOL
• APA Scholarship (equiv) for PhD (Southern Cross)
• APA Scholarship (equiv) for MA (Southern Cross)
• Dux (Valedictorian) of School Matriculation class

Other achievements include:

A significant academic achievement was to co-design, develop, convene and instruct the online component of the Masters in Strategic Foresight at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne (2003-2006).

A significant achievement in institution-building and pedagogical innovation was to found and direct a private school inspired by Rudolf Steiner's philosophy and pedagogy in rural Australia (1984-1994). This included establishing recurrent and capital Government funding, and project management of significant building projects ($1million +) in addition to writing several other successful grant applications.