Dr Kiah Smith
Research Fellow
Centre for Policy Futures
Office 503, Level 5
Forgan Smith (1)
UQ ST LUCIA CAMPUS
Forgan Smith (1)
UQ ST LUCIA CAMPUS
Kiah Smith is a Sociologist (Senior Research Fellow) with expertise in environment, development and food studies. With a strong record of international publications on food justice, food security, resilience, financialisation, ethical trade, green economy, sustainable livelihoods, gender empowerment and food system governance, Kiah’s work contributes new understandings of the social dimensions of food system transformation at the intersection of multiple crises. Using mostly qualitative, participatory methodologies (such as action research and future scenario planning), her research places particular emphasis on the role that civil society plays in transformative policy making that is systems-focused and more inclusive of diverse perspectives. For example, she currently leads an ARC DECRA study that examines how civic stakeholders are able to resist, reshape or redefine what a just and sustainable food system might look like, based on extensive collaboration with participants from academia, civil society, local government and grassroots food systems (food hubs, community gardens, and food charities) in Australia and internationally. This interdisciplinary research agenda can best be summarised as one where ‘food futures’ are closely connected with ‘deep’ sustainability, rights, justice and empowerment, thus building the growing field of ‘sustainability transitions’.
Over the past decade, Kiah has collaborated with FIAN International on the right to food, UN Women on their ‘Feminist Plan for Sustainability and Social Justice’, UNRISD programmes on ‘A new eco-social contract’ and ‘Localising the SDGs’, and Future Earth through her ‘Fair Food Futures’ podcast and animation. Other past and present studies include: Multifunctional horticulture, land, labour and environments; Ethical consumption and COVID; Responsible innovation in digital agriculture; Employment policy and indigenous food sovereignty in remote Australia; Financialisation of food and farmland in Australia; Resilience and governance of Australian food systems during crisis; and Mapping civil society, human rights and the SDGs. Future studies will explore the right to food, ‘fair food’ procurement, and civic policy councils.
At the Centre for Policy Futures, Kiah’s expertise in justice, rights and empowerment will contribute across the focal areas, and help to build the Centre’s capacity for research as social action, non-traditional research translation and impact, and policy engagement with the SDGs.
Publications
Book
Smith, Kiah (2014). Ethical trade, gender and sustainable livelihoods: women smallholders and ethicality in Kenya. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203383940
Book Chapters
Lawrence, Geoffrey and Smith, Kiah (2020). Neoliberal Globalization and Beyond: Food, Farming, and the Environment. The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology. (pp. 411-428) edited by Katherine Legun, Michael Bell and J. Keller. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781108554558.026
Smith, Kiah (2018). Zero Hunger discourse: neoliberal, progressive, reformist or radical?. Contested sustainability discourses in the agrifood system. (pp. 89-110) edited by Douglas H. Constance, Jason Konefal and Maki Hatanaka. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Taylor and Francis. doi: 10.4324/9781315161297
Lawrence, Geoffrey and Smith, Kiah (2018). The concept of 'financialization': criticisms and insights. The financialization of agri-food systems: contested transformations. (pp. 23-41) edited by Hilde Bjørkhaug, André Magnan and Geoffrey Lawrence. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315157887-2
Smith, Kiah (2016). Food Systems Failure: Can we Avert Future Crises?. Routledge International Handbook of Rural Studies. (pp. 250-262) edited by Mark Shucksmith and David L. Brown. London: Routledge.
Smith, Kiah and Lyons, Kristen (2012). Negotiating organic, fair and ethical trade: Lessons from smallholders in Uganda and Kenya. Food systems failure: The global food crisis and the future of agriculture. (pp. 182-202) edited by Christopher Rosin, Paul Stock and Hugh Campbell. London, United Kingdom: Earthscan.
Campbell, Hugh, Lawrence, Geofffrey and Smith, Kiah (2006). Audit Cultures and the Antipodes: The Implications of EurepGAP for New Zealand and Australian Agri-food Industries. Between the Local and the Global: confronting complexity in the contemporary Agri-food sector. (pp. 69-94) edited by T. Marsden and J. Murdoch. Oxford, England: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/S1057-1922(06)12004-1
Journal Articles
Staines, Zoe, Smith, Kiah, Plage, Stefanie, Nahar Lata, Lutfun, Fay, Suzanna, Zheng, Zhaoxi, Simpson Reeves, Laura, Beazley, Helen, Kuskoff, Ella, Clarke, Andrew, McGowan, Glenys, Shevellar, Lynda and Prangnell, Jonathan (2023). Social science as social action to address inequalities. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 59 (1), 108-127. doi: 10.1002/ajs4.272
Smith, Kiah, Langford, Alexandra and Lawrence, Geoffrey (2022). Tracking farmland investment in Australia: Institutional finance and the politics of data mapping. Journal of Agrarian Change, 23 (3), 518-546. doi: 10.1111/joac.12531
Smith, Kiah (2022). Scaling up civic food utopias in Australia: The challenges of justice and representation. Sociologia Ruralis, 63 (1), 140-159. doi: 10.1111/soru.12368
Malatzky, Christina and Smith, Kiah (2022). Introduction to the special issue – imagining rural futures in times of uncertainty and possibility: progressing a transformative research agenda for rural sociology. Journal of Sociology, 58 (2), 144078332110711-143. doi: 10.1177/14407833211071126
Nemes, Gusztáv, Chiffoleau, Yuna, Zollet, Simona, Collison, Martin, Benedek, Zsófia, Colantuono, Fedele, Dulsrud, Arne, Fiore, Mariantonietta, Holtkamp, Carolin, Kim, Tae-Yeon, Korzun, Monika, Mesa-Manzano, Rafael, Reckinger, Rachel, Ruiz-Martínez, Irune, Smith, Kiah, Tamura, Norie, Viteri, Maria Laura and Orbán, Éva (2021). The impact of COVID-19 on alternative and local food systems and the potential for the sustainability transition: insights from 13 countries. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 28, 591-599. doi: 10.1016/j.spc.2021.06.022
Langford, Alexandra, Lawrence, Geoffrey and Smith, Kiah (2021). Financialization for development? Asset making on Indigenous land in remote northern Australia. Development and Change, 52 (3), 574-597. doi: 10.1111/dech.12648
Smith, Kiah and Lawrence, Geoffrey (2021). Agri-food scholarship: Past, present and future contributions to Australasian rural sociology. Journal of Sociology, 58 (2) 144078332110096, 1-22. doi: 10.1177/14407833211009616
Smith, K. and Lawrence, G. (2021). Finance's social license? Sugar, farmland and health. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 10 (12), 1-11. doi: 10.34172/IJHPM.2021.11
Staines, Zoe and Smith, Kiah (2021). Workfare and food in remote Australia: 'I haven't eaten... I'm really at the end...'. Critical Policy Studies, 16 (1), 36-59. doi: 10.1080/19460171.2021.1893198
Langford, Alexandra, Smith, Kiah and Lawrence, Geoffrey (2020). Financialising governance? State actor engagement with private finance for rural development in the Northern Territory of Australia. Research in Globalization, 2 100026, 1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.resglo.2020.100026
Smith, Kiah (2019). Localizing SDG2 Zero Hunger through “Fair Food” in Australia. Asian Development Perspectives, 10 (2), 135-148. doi: 10.22681/ADP.2019.10.2.135
Smith, Kiah and Lawrence, Geoffrey (2018). From disaster management to adaptive governance? Governance challenges to achieving resilient food systems in Australia. Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, 20 (3), 387-401. doi: 10.1080/1523908X.2018.1432344
Smith, Kiah (2017). Gendered conventions of ethical trade. Journal of Consumer Ethics, 1 (2), 19-30.
Smith, Kiah, Lawrence, Geoffrey, MacMahon, Amy, Muller, Jane and Brady, Michelle (2016). The resilience of long and short food chains: a case study of flooding in Queensland, Australia. Agriculture and Human Values, 33 (1), 45-60. doi: 10.1007/s10460-015-9603-1
MacMahon, Amy, Smith, Kiah and Lawrence, Geoffrey (2015). Connecting resilience, food security and climate change: lessons from flooding in Queensland, Australia. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 5 (3), 378-391. doi: 10.1007/s13412-015-0278-0
Smith, Kiah (2014). Ethical trade, gender and sustainable livelihoods in Kenya: mixed methods for women's participation. Sage Research Methods doi: 10.4135/978144627305013509769
Smith, Kiah (2014). Review of Hidden Hunger: Gender and the Politics of Smarter Foods. Journal of Development Studies, 50 (7), 1039-1040. doi: 10.1080/00220388.2014.922270
Smith, Kiah and Lawrence, Geoffrey (2014). Flooding and food security: a case study of community vulnerability and resilience in Rockhampton. Rural Society, 23 (3), 215-227. doi: 10.1080/10371656.2014.11082066
Smith, Kiah (2012). Gender and food security in a fair, green economy?. Development, 55 (1), 81-89. doi: 10.1057/dev.2011.118
Cook, Sarah and Smith, Kiah (2012). Introduction: Green economy and sustainable development, Bringing back the 'social'. Development, 55 (1), 5-9. doi: 10.1057/dev.2011.120
Buchler, Sandra, Smith, Kiah and Lawrence, Geoffrey (2010). Food risks, old and new demographic characteristics and perceptions of food additives, regulation and contamination in Australia. Journal of Sociology, 46 (4), 353-374. doi: 10.1177/1440783310384449
Smith, Kiah, Lawrence, Geoffrey and Richards, Carol (2010). Supermarkets’ governance of the agri-food supply chain: Is the ‘corporate-environmental’ food regime evident in Australia?. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 17 (2), 140-161.
Conference Papers
Smith, Kiah (2023). Fair Food Futures: 4 scenarios for translating civic food politics into food system transitions in Australia. XX International Sociological Association Congress, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 25 June -1 July 2023.
Freeman, Camille and Smith, Kiah (2023). Towards a Framework for Scaling-up Civic Food: Lessons from Coalition Building in Australia. XX International Sociological Association Congress, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 25 June-1 July 2023.
Smith, Kiah, Langford, Zannie and Lawrence, Geoffrey (2022). Tracking farmland investment in Australia: institutional finance and the politics of data mapping. International Rural Sociology Congress, Cairns, QLD, Australia, 19-22 July 2022.
Smith, Kiah (2022). Pluralising food justice in Australia: insights from ‘fair food futures'. International Rural Sociology Congress, Cairns, QLD, Australia, 19-22 July 2022.
Horton, Joanna and Smith, Kiah (2021). Framing civil society participation in Zero Hunger (SDG2) governance: a document and policy analysis. Sydney Food Governance, Sydney, Australia (online), 13-15 December 2021.
Smith, Kiah and Brolan, Claire (2021). Enhancing democratic participation and human rights at the SDG crossroad of food, health, gender and wellbeing: Civil society mapping for integrated action on the SDGs in Australia and Canada. Sustainability Research Innovation, Brisbane, Australia (online), 15 June 2022.
Smith, Kiah (2021). Civic food ‘utopias’ in Australia: scaling up from initiative to social movement. International Sociological Association Congress, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 25 February 2021.
Smith, K. and Lawrence, G. (2021). Finance's social license? Sugar, health, farmland and the reef. International Sociological Association Forum of Sociology, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 25 February 2021.
Smith, Kiah and Horton, Joanna (2020). We told you so…Local food, COVID and resilience as transformation. Food futures in the Anthropocene: Just, place-based, convivial, Hobart, TAS, Australia (online), 9-10 November 2020.
Smith, Kiah (2020). Local food, COVID and resilience as transformation in Australia. Seoul Urban Food Policy Conference, Seoul, South Korea, 26 October 2020.
Smith, Kiah, Lawrence, Geoffrey and Langford, Alexandra (2019). Mapping farmland ownership in Australia: corporate, state and institutional capital investments since 2008. XXVIII European Society for Rural Sociology Congress (ESRS2019), Trondheim, Norway, 25-28 June 2019.
Smith, K. and Lawrence, G. (2019). Mapping Farmland Ownership in Australia: The Politics of Investment Data and Implications for 'Financialisation'. XXVI Meeting of the Australasian Agri-food Research Network, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1-4 December 2019.
Lawrence, G. and Smith, K. (2019). The contribution of agri-food scholarship to australian rural sociology. Rural Issues Symposium - The Future of Rural Sociology in Australia, Bendigo, Australia, 28 June 2019.
Lawrence, G., Smith, K. and Langford, A. (2018). A 'Quintis'sential Failure? The sandalwood saga in the Ord. XXV Meeting of the Australasian Agri-food Research Network, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 30 November-5 December 2017.
Lawrence, G., Sippel, S., Smith, K. and Raymond, S. (2016). Recent Chinese Investment in Australia's Agri-food Industries. XXII Meeting of the Australasian Agri-food Research Network, Adelaide, South Australia, 7-10 December 2015.
Smith, K. and Lawrence, G. (2014). From Disaster Management to Reflexive Governance? Challenges to the Governance of Australian Food Systems in 'Crisis'. XXI Meeting of the Australasian Agri-food Research Network, Sydney, NSW Australia, 24-26 November 2014.
Smith, K. and Lawrence, G. (2013). Flooding and Food Security: A Case Study of Community Resilience in Rockhampton, Australia. XX Meeting of the Australasian Agri-food Research Network, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 1-5 December 2013.
Smith, K., Lawrence, G., MacMahon, A., Muller, J. and Brady, M. (2013). The Performance of Long and Short Food Chains in the Queensland Floods of 2011 - a Preliminary Analysis. XX Meeting of the Australasian Agri-food Research Network, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 1-5 December 2013.
Smith, K., Lawrence, G. and MacMahon, A. (2013). Governance of food security in times of climate crisis: insights from the 2011 Queensland Floods. XX Meeting of the Australasian Agri-food Research Network, Melbourne, Australia, 1-5 December 2013.
Smith, K., Lawrence, G., MacMahon, A., Muller, J. and Brady, M. (2013). The resilience of long and short food chains during the Queensland floods of 2011. XX Meeting of the Australasian Agri-food Research Network, Melbourne, Australia, 1-5 December 2013.
Richards, C., Cheshire, L., Lawrence, G., Smith, K., Skrbis, Z. and Woods, M. (2010). The Globally-engaged Family Farmer: Understanding a New, Transnational, Cosmopolitan Actor. XVII Conference of the Australasian Agri-food Research Network, Gippsland, VIC Australia, 29 November - 1 December 2010.
Buchler, S., Lawrence, G. and Smith, K. (2008). Safety, Quality and the Future of Food: Consumer Perspectives of Traditional and Modern Food Risks. XV Conference of the Australasian Agri-food Research Network, Sydney, NSW Australia, 26-28 November 2008.
Lawrence, G., Burch, D. and Smith, K. (2006). Food Safety Regulation in Australia: an Agenda for Agri-food Research. XII Conference of the Australasian Agri-food Research Network, Dunedin, New Zealand, 27-30 November 2006.
Lawrence, G. and Smith, K. (2006). Australia's Third Food Regime? Global versus National Trends. XIII Conference of the Australasian Agri-food Research Network, Dunedin, New Zealand, 27-30 November 2006.
Seminar Paper
Rimer, Jonah, Smith, Kiah and Ablaza, Christine (2024). Data gathering: Principles of good design. Research Capacity-Building Program, Australia Awards Short Course for Laotian Researchers. The University of Queensland.
Working Paper
Smith, K., Bellotti, W., Davey, T., Dean, J., Durham, J., Ferguson, M., Muriuki, G., Oliver, G., Schubert, L. and Xu, H. (2017). Food system governance in Australia: Co-creating the recipe for change. Global Change Institute, The University of Queensland.
Thesis
Kiah Smith (2011). Contesting 'ethicality': Ethical trade, gender and sustainable livelihoods for smallholder farmers in Kenya. PhD Thesis, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland.
Newspaper Articles
Smith, Kiah (2023, 04 11). Putting Food Justice at the Centre of an Eco-Social Contract UNRISD
Smith, Kiah and Staines, Zoe (2020, 10 19). Food, work and sovereignty The Sociological Review Blog
Research Reports
Smith, Kiah, Langford, Alexandra and Lawrence, Geoffrey (2020). Submission to Senate Standing Committee on Economics Inquiry into foreign investment proposals. Canberra, ACT: Senate Standing Committees on Economics.
Staines, Zoe and Smith, Kiah (2020). Submission to House Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs Inquiry into Food Pricing and Food Security in Remote Indigenous Communities (submission number 126). Canberra, ACT, Australia: Parliament of Australia.
MacMahon, Amy, Smith, Kiah, Muller, Jane, Belesky, Paul, Lawrence, Geoffrey and Brady, M. (2013). Submission to the Senate Committee on Recent Trends in the Preparedness for Extreme Weather Events. Federal Standing Committee on Environment and Communications St Lucia, Qld, Australia: The University of Queensland.
Cook, Sarah , Smith, Kiah and Utting, Peter (2012). Green Economy or Green Society? Contestation and politics for a fair transition. Geneva, Switzerland.: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) .