ProfessorAlexandra Lasczik
(she/her)
Head of School, Creative and Performing Arts
Office of CPA
- Head of School, Creative and Performing ArtsOffice of CPA
RESEARCH SUMMARy
Alexandra's current research focuses on participatory, arts-based inquiry with children and young people engaging with climate change, childhoodnature, and posthuman philosophy. She has acquired more than $2million in competitive funding, largely Cat 1.
Her current research explores climate change education on Country with Indigenous and non-Indigenous children and young people; and schools’ disaster preparedness through two ARC-funded projects, namely Advancing Child and Youth-led Climate Change Education with Country (Discovery Project) and Disaster Ready Schools (Linkage). She previously led the Australian sites of two Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [SSHRCC] Partnership Development Grants, Mapping A/r/tography and Learning with Land, respectively.
LP250100073: Disaster Ready Schools: Strengthening Australia's Education Sector. "Disaster Ready Schools" seeks to address the significant learning disruptions experienced by children and young people due to climate-induced disasters, which have affected over 242 million students globally. This national project aims to deepen our understanding of how these disasters impact Australia’s education system. Collaborating with key partners, including UNICEF Australia and the Queensland Department of Education, the project will co-design a disaster-ready education framework and supportive resources. Critical to the UN SDGs, it will investigate critical questions regarding the nature of these impacts, stakeholder adaptations, and strategies for enhancing resilience, ultimately fostering robust support systems for young people.
Aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 4 (Quality Education) and Goal 13 (Climate Action), this world-first research adopts an original and comprehensive approach to investigate the historical, current, and emerging impacts of intensifying climate-induced disasters on the national education sector with particular focus on Queensland and Victoria. Queensland and Victoria are the most disaster-exposed states in Australia. The study critically examines how climate events are reshaping the landscape of Australian education in terms of delivery, access, quality, and equity, echoing the UN’s emphasis on promoting education that is both inclusive and resilient in the face of climate change. Moreover, this project delivers on Australia's commitments to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement, which stress the importance of integrating climate considerations into various sectors, including education, to ensure adaptive capacities in vulnerable communities. By establishing a robust, evidence-based baseline and developing a pioneering, Australia-first ‘Disaster-Ready Education Framework,’ the project aims to empower educational resilience for children, young people, parents, and educators. This aligns with global efforts to enhance adaptive capacity and ensure that education systems are equipped to withstand and respond to the challenges posed by climate change.
DP240100968: Advancing Child and Youth-led Climate Change Education with Country. Climate change education is in its infancy. By co-researching with Indigenous and non-Indigenous children, youth, and Elders across Australia and Canada, this project conceptualises and advances climate change education with Country. Climate change education is not adequately understood within Western science. Western perspectives on climate crises are in deep contrast to Indigenous perspectives enmeshed in continuous storying with descendants, ancestors, and Country. Collaborating with Elders, this project will generate child and youth-led transcultural curriculum and pedagogical understandings of climate change education with Country. It delivers on the United Nations Convention on Climate Change through corresponding quality education.
Australia is a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC, 1992) with obligations to develop ensuing climate change education policy. However, there is currently no Australian government climate change education policy nor corresponding school-based curriculum and pedagogy. This is in a context where young people are increasingly exposed to apocalyptic visions and lived experiences of the disastrous impacts of climate change, causing existential anxiety. This project aims to empower children and youth (5-18 years) to generate new understandings of inherited Indigenous and Western climate change knowledge in advancing climate change education. Alongside academic and community impact outcomes, this significant knowledge will be translated into a co-designed child and youth-led climate change education policy statement and a corresponding curriculum and pedagogical framework for teaching and learning climate change with Country in primary and secondary schools. This important connection of Indigenous knowledges with Western sciences will enable the next generation of Australians to confidently adapt to the impacts of environmental change. This novel project delivers on Australia’s UNFCC commitments and the 2030 United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development by engaging with Indigenous and non-Indigenous children, youth, and Elders through building transcultural knowledge and capacity for quality education in climate change with Country.
FUNDED PROJECTS
- GRANTDisaster Ready Schools: Strengthening Australia's Education Sector1 Jan 2026 - 31 Dec 2028People funded by this grant:
- Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles A,
- Lasczik A
- GRANTAdvancing Child and Youth-led Climate Change Education with Country.1 Jan 2024 - 31 Dec 2026People funded by this grant:
- Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles A,
- Lasczik A