Dr Kiah Smith

UQ Amplify Senior Research Fellow

Centre for Policy Futures
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Overview

I am an early career Sociologist in the fields of environment and development, with a focus on agrifood political and cultural economy. My research focuses on understanding the transformation of local and global food systems in light of shifting social relations and global environmental change, and emphasises the social and political-economic factors underpinning the ways that food production, trade and consumption are understood and contested by multiple actors (farmers, women, supermarkets, policy makers, activists) at local, national and global levels. I have published on food justice and food security, food system resilience, ethical/fair trade, sustainable livelihoods, gender, green economy, governance and financialisation of food and agriculture, and have a growing interest in the right to food. I have conducted qualitative and participatory sociological research in Australia and internationally, have worked with local NGOs (in Africa and Australia), with the United Nations Research Institute in Geneva, and in multidisciplinary research teams spanning the social and natural sciences both here and abroad. I currently work on an Australian Research Council DECRA project exploring 'Fair Food Futures, Civil Society and the SDGS', as well as research on SDGs and civil society more broadly. I am also a Future Earth Fellow, treasurer of the Australasian Agrifood Research Network, and a Research Associate with the Centre for Social Economy in Nicaragua.

Research Interests

  • Agrifood Political Economy
    'Financialisation of Food and Farming' in Australia, with a focus on agribusiness investment in the the North Queensland sugar industry Supermarket power and industry 'greening' Food crisis, multiple crises (food, climate, economic)
  • Food Justice
    Civic/ alternative food networks Fair Food organising Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Community food policy making Food citizenship Environmental justice
  • Food systems governance
    Resilience of long and short food chains Adaptive governance, reflexive governance Food systems in 'crisis', e.g. flooding, climate change Food systems transformation Multi-stakeholder participation
  • Gender and Ethical Trade
    Fair and ethical trade, e.g. 'ethical consumption and production' networks Smallholder food production/trade in the Global South Sustainable livelihoods Gender empowerment Conventions, standards, multistakeholder regulation
  • Green Economy
    Social dimensions of green economy UN policy processes

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland

Publications

View all Publications

Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

View all Supervision

Available Projects

  • I am interested in supervising Honours or RHD students with a focus on food, human rights, civil society and the SDGs. Please contact me directly for more details.

View all Available Projects

Publications

Featured Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • Lawrence, Geoffrey and Smith, Kiah (2020). Neoliberal Globalization and Beyond: Food, Farming, and the Environment. The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology. (pp. 411-428) edited by Katherine Legun, Michael Bell and J. Keller. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781108554558.026

  • Lawrence, Geoffrey and Smith, Kiah (2018). The concept of 'financialization': criticisms and insights. The financialization of agri-food systems: contested transformations. (pp. 23-41) edited by Hilde Bjørkhaug, André Magnan and Geoffrey Lawrence. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315157887-2

  • Smith, Kiah (2018). Zero Hunger discourse: neoliberal, progressive, reformist or radical?. Contested sustainability discourses in the agrifood system. (pp. 89-110) edited by Douglas H. Constance, Jason Konefal and Maki Hatanaka. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Taylor and Francis. doi: 10.4324/9781315161297

  • Smith, Kiah (2016). Food Systems Failure: Can we Avert Future Crises?. Routledge International Handbook of Rural Studies. (pp. 250-262) edited by Mark Shucksmith and David L. Brown. London: Routledge.

  • Smith, Kiah and Lyons, Kristen (2012). Negotiating organic, fair and ethical trade: Lessons from smallholders in Uganda and Kenya. Food systems failure: The global food crisis and the future of agriculture. (pp. 182-202) edited by Christopher Rosin, Paul Stock and Hugh Campbell. London, United Kingdom: Earthscan.

  • Campbell, Hugh, Lawrence, Geofffrey and Smith, Kiah (2006). Audit Cultures and the Antipodes: The Implications of EurepGAP for New Zealand and Australian Agri-food Industries. Between the Local and the Global: confronting complexity in the contemporary Agri-food sector. (pp. 69-94) edited by T. Marsden and J. Murdoch. Oxford, England: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/S1057-1922(06)12004-1

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • I am interested in supervising Honours or RHD students with a focus on food, human rights, civil society and the SDGs. Please contact me directly for more details.