Research Theme Champion: Urban Living Futures and Society

Associate Professor Nichole Georgeou

School of Social Sciences
n.georgeou@westernsydney.edu.au

Nichole is Associate Dean International in the School of Social Sciences, where she is Associate Professor in the Humanitarian and Development Studies Program. She holds a PhD in Development Sociology, a Master of Social Change and Development (Research) and a Bachelor of Creative Arts from University of Wollongong (UOW), and a Diploma of Education from University of Newcastle. Before coming to academia, Nichole worked in the private, government, community and aid sectors in Australia, Japan and Vietnam. She continues to play an active role in issues of aid and development through the Development Studies Association of Australia (DSAA), and Chair of the organising committee for the 2022 DSAA Conference 2022 hosted by Western Sydney University.

Nichole’s areas of research and academic writing broadly fall into three streams (1) civil society and volunteering for development; (2) aid and development, and (3) human security and food systems. Her expertise in development volunteering is internationally recognised and resulted in her being invited to the United Nations Volunteers Headquarters, Bonn Germany in July 2015 to develop a vision and strategic global research agenda on ‘volunteering for sustainable development’, and she has delivered public lectures at the Social Good Summit Sydney in 2018 as the co-Chair of Academics Stand Against Poverty (Oceania).

Since joining Western Sydney University in 2016, Nichole has been Director, Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative (HADRI), which has been active in research on the thematic areas of: Disaster Preparedness and Response; Migration and Diaspora; and Sustainable Development and Human Security. HADRI outputs include reports on a variety of issues relating to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), food security, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), diaspora development, and the politics of pandemic during COVID. Nichole has also undertaking contract research for civil society and community organisations in Western Sydney, and led research projects in Nepal and the Pacific Islands.

In her role as Associate Dean International Nichole has spent much of her time building international partnerships. As Western Sydney University’s representative to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development’s Himalayan University Consortium (ICIMOD HUC), Nichole was recently elected to the ICIMOD HUC steering committee.

Nichole’s research has been published widely, including in Journal of Sociology, Australian Journal of History and Politics, Australian Journal of Political Science,  PLOS One, Pacific Dynamics, PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, The Gerontologist, PORTAL and Voluntas. She is the author of the 2012 study Neoliberalism, Development and Aid Volunteering (Routledge) and is currently working on two books: one on Pandemic States and Societies in the Asia Pacific; the other on Police-building and the Responsibility to Protect. Nichole is an editorial board member of Development in Practice and International Gramsci Journal and a regular article and book reviewer for journals in the disciplines of sociology and politics.