Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
My research focuses on Indigenous rights and the interface between Indigenous communities, natural resource development, governments and corporations at the scales of the project, the community, the landscape and the nation. Much of my work uses highly participatory social impact assessment methodologies (first discussed in a widely cited paper in 1993), which aim to equip Indigenous peoples to identify, address and challenge the marginalisation of their legal and property systems by dominant management regimes through negotiation.
In engaging with the institutions of mainstream society, my work relies on the metaphors of coexistence and engagement to provide a framework for ethical practice through processes of corporate social responsibility, institutional capacity building, negotiation and sustainability. Theoretically, my work on geographical scale is seen as innovative and significant in the discipline. In developing a 'relational' view of scale, my work provides a framework for reconsidering legal pluralism in environmental and urban planning systems.
My role in Native title negotiations in South Australia has integrated consideration of legal and social issues into consideration of reconfiguring various administrative and planning systems to allow statewide recognition of Native title as a basis for transforming Aboriginal participation in the processes of governance in that state. This work is widely seen as taking the lead in a new approach to resolution of cultural and racial conflict over native title.More broadly, my work seeks to integrate the scholarship of teaching into all aspects of my teaching, research and community engagement. From 2012 I have taken up a role in developing and directing the research partnership between Macquarie University and the City of Ryde.
I was first appointed to Macquarie in 1992, and previously worked at the University of Sydney, the Commonwealth Aboriginal Education Service and the NSW Department of Education as a primary school teacher. My teaching covers areas of cultural, social and environmental geography at undergraduate, honours, Masters and PhD levels.
1992-present Macquarie University (commenced as Lecturer B, currently Lecturer E [Professor]; Head of Department 2005-2010; 2012-2013 - Director, Macquarie Ryde Futures Partnership)
2014-2015 - Elected academic staff member of Macquarie University Council
2018 (August) - retired
External positions
Director, Richard Howitt
11 Jun 2018 → …
Adjunct and visiting Professor, Kyoto University
Adjunct and visiting Professor, University of Kansas
Justice of the Peace, NSW
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Indigenous Cultural and Social Wellbeing: Key Lessons for Australian Communities and Policy-Makers
Hunter, J. & Howitt, R.
12/01/17 → …
Project: Research
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households' and families experiences of food insecurity
Raven, M., Howitt, R. & Raven, M.
22/02/16 → …
Project: Research
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Enacting responsibility through climate justice activism in Asia-Pacific
1/01/16 → 31/12/16
Project: Research
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Aligning business education with industry expectations on employability and sustainability
Breyer, Y., Rickards, S., Denby, L., Tan, L. P., Howitt, R., Wood, L. & Edwards, M.
19/11/15 → 28/04/17
Project: Research
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Evaluating place-based projects on public housing estates - Community and Environment Project, Mt Druitt, Western Sydney District
Howitt, R., Ruming, K. & Mohan-Ram, V.
11/03/14 → 30/06/14
Project: Research
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Challenging the colonial legacy of/at Macquarie
Howitt, R., Holt, L. & Locke, M. L., Feb 2022, In: Geographical Research. 60, 1, p. 71-85 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2 Citations (Scopus) -
Faith-based Support as a Relational Approach to Community Development: Legacies and Impacts of The Salvation Army’s ‘No. 47 Project’ in the Ivanhoe Public Housing Estate
Barkat, I., Howitt, R., McLachlan, K., Tofa, M., Misra, G., Moulds, N. & Osborne, P., 25 Jun 2021, Macquarie University. 91 p.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
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Relationships, social networks and the emergence of recovery-based river management: implications for practice and policy
Mould, S., Fryirs, K. & Howitt, R., 2021, In: Marine and Freshwater Research. 72, 4, p. 481-492 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
4 Citations (Scopus) -
Decolonizing people, place and Country: nurturing resilience across time and space
Howitt, R., Aug 2020, In: Sustainability (Switzerland). 12, 15, p. 1-16 16 p., 5882.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile24 Citations (Scopus)28 Downloads (Pure) -
How to spot and support a river champion
Mould, S., Fryirs, K., Lovett, S. & Howitt, R., 24 Jun 2020, Advanced Science News.Research output: Contribution to Newspaper/Magazine/Website › Article
Open Access