Rebecca Olive

Dr Rebecca Olive is a feminist cultural studies and ethnographic researcher working across areas of sport and leisure, human-environmental health and wellbeing, environmental humanities, and feminist theory. Her research explores how everyday, recreational sport and leisure activities are experienced through cultural politics, ecological encounters, relationships with humans and non-humans, as well as social media production and consumption. Her use of reflexive, participatory, ethnographic methods reflects her interest in everyday contexts and experiences as well as community-focused forms of engagement and research translation. At RMIT she is based in the Centre for Urban Research, where she is an Associate Director and leads the Regenerative Environments and Climate Action theme. She also co-convenes the RMIT Ocean Research and Climate Action (ORCA) network, and is a Regenerative Futures Institute Fellow.

She began an RMIT Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellowship in 2022, which examines recreational sport and leisure in urban bodies of water including oceans, estuaries, rivers, and outdoor pools, with a focus on urban swimming in terms of public safety, climate resilience, and urban regeneration. This work builds on an ARC DECRA (Australian Research Council - Discovery Early Career Researcher Award) (2019-2022), which was focused on the role of recreational sports (swimming and surfing) in how participants develop relationships of care and responsibility with coastal and ocean ecologies. 

Prior to this, Rebecca was a Senior Lecturer in the School of Human Movement & Nutrition Studies at The University of Queensland (2016-2022) and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Sport and Leisure Studies at Waikato University (Aotearoa New Zealand) (2014-2016). Rebecca is the President of the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia (CSAA), is on the Strategy, Risk & Innovation Committee for Swiming Victoria, the advisory committee for Regen Melbourne's Swimmable Birrarung 'Earthshot' project, the committee for the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Coastal Society, and is on the Editorial Boards of Annals of Leisure Research and Sporting Traditions. 

Rebecca’s research profile and collaborative relationships have led to publications in leading journals and books, co-edited collections, invited seminars, and the organisation of scholarly and public events. As well as academic publications, Rebecca is active in community and public engagement, including community presentations at film nights and festivals, podcast and radio interviews, articles for publications including The Conversation, Surfing World, White Horses, and Surfline, and the production of a podcast series (Saltwater Library). You can learn more about this work at her website, Moving Oceans. She has also produced a StoryMap, Swim Melbourne, which maps places to swim across the city and shares stories of risk, safety, and community.