STAFF PROFILE
Associate Professor Ben Cooke
Position:
Associate Professor
College / Portfolio:
Design and Social Context
School / Department:
DSC|School of GUSS
Phone:
+61399259943
Email:
ben.cooke@rmit.edu.au
Campus:
City Campus
Contact me about:
Research supervision
Ben is a human geographer with a broad interest in the socio-ecological dynamics of conservation and a commitment to praxis-based pedagogy in environmental studies.
I am a lecturer based in the Bachelor of Environment and Society Program who has conducted extensive research into the practice and policy of private land conservation in Australia. My current work is focused on questions of equity, justice and property around urban greening, as well as the application of market-based instruments to leverage conservation outcomes.
Research interests include:
- Geography of human-environment relations
- Politics of urban greening
- Private land conservation practice and policy
- Nonhuman agency
- Qualitative research methods
- Interdisciplinary environmental research
Teaching responsibilities include:
- ENVI1049 - Environment Assessment, Monitoring and Systems
- ENVI1062 - Client Based Research
- ENVI1128 - Environmental Management Systems and Tools
- ENVI1213 - Sustainability Strategies (capstone)
By appointment
- BEnvSc (Deakin University) - 2005
- BA (Hons) (Monash University) - 2006
- PhD (RMIT University) - 2013
Local Government Environmental Planner
Consultancy work for private land conservation agencies
Teaching and research collaborations with the policy, NGO and community sector
- Cooke, B.,Pearce, L.,Davison, A. (2024). Environmental NGOs and Protected Area Conservation in Australia: The Political Consequences of Aligning with Private Interests In: Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 114, 334 - 351
- Davison, A.,Pearce, L.,Cooke, B.,Kirkpatrick, J. (2023). From activism to “not-quite-government”: the role of government and non-government actors in the expansion of the Australian protected area estate since 1990 In: Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 66, 1743 - 1764
- Damiens, F.,Davison, A.,Cooke, B. (2023). Professionalisation and the spectacle of nature: Understanding changes in the visual imaginaries of private protected area organisations in Australia In: Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 6, 1825 - 1853
- Kirkpatrick, J.,Fielder, J.,Davison, A.,Pearce, L.,Cooke, B. (2022). The Role of Government in a Partial Transition from Public to Private in the Expanding Australian Protected Area System In: Conservation and Society, 20, 201 - 210
- Fitzsimons, J.,Cooke, B. (2021). Key questions for conservation tenders as a means for delivering biodiversity benefits on private land In: Ecological Management and Restoration, 22, 110 - 114
- Cooke, B.,LANDAU-WARD, A.,Rickards, L. (2020). Urban greening, property and more-than-human commoning In: Australian Geographer, 51, 169 - 188
- Cooke, B.,Lane, R. (2020). Making Ecologies on Private Land, Palgrave Pivot, Cham, Switzerland
- Cooke, B. (2020). The politics of urban greening: an introduction In: Australian Geographer, 51, 137 - 153
- Ford, J.,Ison, J.,McKenzie, L.,Cannizzo, F.,Mayhew, L.,Osborne, N.,Cooke, B. (2020). What ongoing staff can do to support precariously employed colleagues: the Academic Precariat In: Australian Universities Review, 62, 57 - 62
- Moon, K.,Adams, V.,Cooke, B. (2019). Shared personal reflections on the need to broaden the scope of conservation social science In: People and Nature, 1, 426 - 434
Human-environment relationships, Time and environment management, Rural-amenity migration and changing rural landscapes, Private land conservation policy, Environmental stewardship as concept and policy.
3 PhD Completions4 PhD Current Supervisions
- First Nations Access to and Ownership of Private Conservation Lands in Victoria: Supporting Healthy Country and Communities. Funded by: Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation Innovation Grants from (2023 to 2024)
- Phillip Island Nature Parks Research Project Evaluating interactions of beachgoers and their dogs with local wildlife. Funded by: Phillip Island Nature Park (Contract) from (2019 to 2021)
- Owning nature: mapping the contested country of private protected areas (administered by University of Tasmania). Funded by: ARC Discovery Project via Other University from (2018 to 2023)