Professor Tema Milstein
PhD, University of Washington
MA, University of New Mexico
Tema Milstein's work is in the field of environmental communication, a social science and humanities transdisciplinethat understands communication as a powerful force at a time of human-generated ecological and climatic crises. She is particularly known for cultural approaches to studying how communication shapes ecological understandings, identities, and actions. Her work tends todiscourses that otherwise go unnoticed, to connections between discourses and wider destructive or restorative practices, and to paths toward sustainable, just, and regenerative futures. Her research spans the globe,illustrating tensions between overarching and marginalised environmental meaning systems, examining ecotourism and environmental activism, and establishing the study of ecocultural identities.Milstein's(Routledge, 2020, co-editor José Castro-Sotomayor) gathers 40 international interdisciplinary authors to bring the ecological turn to sociocultural understandings of the self.She is a former Fulbright Scholar and is the 2020 recipient of the Faculty of Arts, Design, and ArchitectureDean's Research Award for Society Impact.
As a member of the , Milstein serves as convenor of the, a program focused on nourishing tomorrow's change-makers in restoratively rethinking and reshaping the world. She is dedicated to transformativeecopedagogy, and is co-editor of (Routledge, 2017), founder of the "inside-out classroom,"and served as her former institution's University Presidential Teaching Fellow.Milstein hastaught at universities in Australia, the United States, Italy, China, and New Zealand. Before coming to UNSW, she was associate professor of Geography & Environmental Studies and Environmental Communication at the University of New Mexico. In her previous professional life, she was a print and public radio journalist.
At UNSW, she is involved in several projects, including as co-lead for , a research-informed public movement project to ignite everyday experiences of ecocentric transformation(affiliated with the global Massive Change Network). She's a founding member of UNSW's Regenerative Response Collective, serves as Advisory Committee member for UNSW's Fowlers Gap Research Station, as Reference Group member for UNSW's Institute for Industrial Decarbonisation, and as member of Beyond Growth, aUNSW staff-formed group.
Internationally, Milstein is Conference Chair for 2025 Conference on Communication and Environment, which will convene for the first time in the southern hemisphere (Tasmania). She also serves on several journal editorial boards, including flagship journals in the field such as, the , and .
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
Recent Examples:
- UNSW Visiting Teaching Fellowship. 2023.
- Faculty of Arts, Design, & Architecture Research Fellow. 2022.
- Sustainable Development Reform Hub, UNSW. Seed Grant Project: Designing Regenerative Economies: Legal, Policy, and Governance Reform for 'Regen Cities'. 2022
- United States Fish and Wildlife Service
- Project lead/chief investigator. Developing the university campus as an urban wildlife refuge. August 2018-July 2020.
- Project lead/chief investigator. Conservation management audio-visual public messaging. August 2018-May 2019.
- Project lead/chief investigator. Conservation management social media outreach. August 2017-May 2018.
- Project co-lead/chief investigator. Wildlife and pollinator habitat via campus community garden pedagogy. August 2017-July 2018.
- Mandela Washington Fellowship Academic and Leadership Institute (flagship program of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative).Co-investigator/project lead for environmental communication. 25 young African leaders, six-week institute. US Department of State, US International Research and Exchanges Board, US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. 2017.
- McCune Foundation.Partner investigator/expert consultant. MediaDesk NM capacity building for non-profit sector in sustainability innovation. 2013-2014.
- US Fulbright Scholar/Fulbright New Zealand. Senior Scholar. New Zealand ecotourism communication practices and sustainability. Kaikoura & Auckland, New Zealand. US Congress and partner country. 2012.
- United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Co-investigator. Collaborative for Sustainable Foodshed Development. 2010-2013.
- Faculty of Arts, Design, and Architecture Research Fellow. UNSW. 2022.
- Faculty of Arts, Design, and ArchitectureDean's Research Award for Society Impact. UNSW. 2020.
- University of Tasmania Visiting Fellow. Hobart, Australia. 2016.
- Journal Article Awards:
- National Communication Association.For Outstanding Environmental Scholarship.
- 2017. Sole author
- 2009. Sole author
- National Communication Association.For Outstanding Environmental Scholarship.
- Book Awards:
- American Educational Studies Association. Critics Choice Award.
- 2013. Chapter author
- National Communication Association. For Outstanding Environmental Scholarship.
- 2020. Co-editor
- 2017. Co-editor
- 2013. Chapter author
- 2010. Chapter author
- American Educational Studies Association. Critics Choice Award.
- Book ChapterAward:
- National Communication Association.For Outstanding Environmental Scholarship.
- 2022. Co-author
- 2022. Co-author
- National Communication Association.For Outstanding Environmental Scholarship.
- Top Conference Papers:
- International Communication Association. Environmental Division:2017,2012.
- National Communication Association. Environmental Division:2010,2006.
- Western States Communication Association.Environmental Division:2011.
- Teaching Awards:
- Presidential Teaching Fellow. University of New Mexico. 2015-2017.
- Outstanding Teacher of the Year. University of New Mexico. 2011.
Recent podcasts:
- (2021, June 4). Australian Broadcasting Corporation'sRadio NationalGod Forbid.
- (2021, April 25).Australian Broadcasting Corporation'sRadio NationalPhilosopher's Zone.
- (2021, April 3).Climactic.
- (2021, February). Activators.
- -- Learning from Mistakes. (2021, January 1). Climactic.
- (2020, July 13).Custodians of the Planet.
- (2020, January 12). Host with School Strike for Climate Sydney founders and Extinction Rebellion. Live audience at the New South Wales Parliament building.Climactic.
- . (2019, August 19). Live audience at Sydney's Green Square Library. Custodians of the Planet.
- (2019, August 9). Custodians of the Planet.
Recent media articles:
- Carr, J., & Milstein, T. (2020, March 8). . The Conversation.
- Milstein, T., & Siebert, M. (2018) . Storied Seas Journal.
- Siebert, M., & Milstein, T. (2017). Storied Seas Journal.
- Milstein, T. (2016). Center for Humans & Nature.
- Milstein, T. (2015). . International Environmental Communication Association/Taylor & Francis.
My Research Supervision
- PhD student GretchenMiller. , citizen-storytelling, courage, and the more-than-human world.
- PhD student Madeleine Miller. Critical food politics and regenerative farming agriculture paradigms.
- PhD student Catherine Sarah Young. . As Scientia mentor.
- PhD student Joanne Christine Marras Tate. Covid-era more-than-humandiscourses and reclamationsof space. External (University of Colorado Boulder, US).
- Master's student Rhiannon Newton. Dance and embodiedperformance as .
My Teaching
I am passionate about teaching. Iunderstandthe classroom as a uniquely transformative space wherein people can collectively raise awareness about unseen dimensions of culture and society and gain tools to imagine and practice restorative and regenerative futures. I've taught for more than two decades in higher education and I currently teach:
IEST5005 Environmental Communication
IEST5001 Frameworks for Environmental Management
ARTS1241 Environmental Advocacy and Activism