Interests
Sociology and social studies of science and technology, science and technology policy, public engagement with science and technology, science dialogue and deliberation, democratic theory, transdisciplinarity.
Research
Dr Russell is a Research Fellow with the Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. She was previously a research fellow in the National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science in the College of Science at ANU. Dr Russell’s research interests include responsible innovation, public engagement with science, deliberative democracy and technology assessment. She has studied social dimensions of biotechnology and synthetic biology, nanotechnology, and now renewable energy. She has practical expertise in deliberative engagement, dialogue, collaboration, process design and facilitation. She is also an expert in research impact and was a founding member of the Knowledge-to-Action network at ANU.
Biography
Dr Russell is a transdisciplinary pracademic.
She began her professional life studying science, majoring in biochemistry, and completed a PhD in Photosynthesis Research at the University of Queensland. Dr Russell then took a position as lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Wollongong, where she taught Biology. During her 10 years at UoW, she shifted her research from photosynthesis to social aspects of biotechnology, transdisciplinary inquiry, and technology assessment (the latter as Chief Investigator on an ARC Discovery project with Professor Frank Vanclay).
After leaving UoW, Dr Russell worked in the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education for several years, managing the award-winning Science & Technology Engagement Pathways (STEP) program. It was during this time she developed an interest and skills in the practices of facilitation, dialogue and deliberation.
Dr Russell went freelance in 2014, forming Double Arrow Consulting, a Canberra business specialising in two-way engagement. She has been a visiting fellow and sessional academic at the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at ANU for some years, and convenes a course on Science Dialogue Theory and Practice there. She is also an associate of the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra.
Activities & Awards
- International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) Core Values Regional (ACT) and Project of the Year National Awards, 2011 and Core Values Regional (ACT) Award, 2013 (as project manager)
- Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning, The Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Australia, 2006
- Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Learning Faculty Award, University of Wollongong, 2006