Professor Peta Ashworth
UQ Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation
School of Chemical Engineering
Researcher biography
Professor Peta Ashworth is UQ Chair in Sustainable Energy Futures and has responsibility for the Master of Sustainable Energy (Management). In 2020, she was appointed as Director of the Andrew N Liveris Academy for Innovation and Leadership. She is well known for her expertise in the energy field with research focuses on understanding public attitudes to climate change and energy technologies (wind, CCS, solar PV, geothermal) for climate mitigation.
Peta Ashworth brings over thirty years’ experience working in a range of senior management and research roles. Peta is well known for her expertise in the energy field, communication and stakeholder engagement and technology assessment. Peta has been researching public attitudes to climate and energy technologies (wind, CCS, solar PV, geothermal) for the past ten years with a particular focus on CCS. She currently Co-Chairs the Independent Advisory Panel for the Radioactive Waste Management Facility project for the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. She has also been Chair of the IEA GHG Social Research Network since its inception in 2009 and has assisted in the coordination of five international research meetings of the network – Paris, Yokohama, Noosa, Calgary and Cambridge (UK). Previously, Peta conceptualised and led the Science into Society Group (SISG) within CSIRO’s Division of Earth Science and Resource Engineering, which specialised in interdisciplinary research at the interface between science and society. Peta has an interest in designing a range of dialogic processes for engaging around complex issues.
Peta co-authored the CSIRO Home Energy Saving Handbook to help Australian householders save money and reduce their overall energy use, and she has an interest in designing processes for engaging on complex and contested issues with a focus on science and technology innovations. Peta was awarded an EU Horizon 2020 research project - Responsible Research and Innovation Practice (RRI – Practice). The RRI project brings together a unique group of international experts to understand the barriers and drivers to the successful implementation of RRI in global contexts; to promote reflection on organisational structures and cultures of research conducting and research funding organisations; and to identify best practices to facilitate the uptake of RRI in organisations and research programmes.
Qualifications
- Master of Business Administration, The University of Queensland
- Bachelor of Education, Qld. UT
- Diploma of Teaching
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