Dr Kiah Smith
ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow
School of Social Science
Researcher biography
I am an early career Sociologist in the fields of environment and development, with a focus on agrifood political and cultural economy. My research focuses on understanding the transformation of local and global food systems in light of shifting social relations and global environmental change, and emphasises the social and political-economic factors underpinning the ways that food production, trade and consumption are understood and contested by multiple actors (farmers, women, supermarkets, policy makers, activists) at local, national and global levels. I have published on food justice and food security, food system resilience, ethical/fair trade, sustainable livelihoods, gender, green economy, governance and financialisation of food and agriculture, and have a growing interest in the right to food. I have conducted qualitative and participatory sociological research in Australia and internationally, have worked with local NGOs (in Africa and Australia), with the United Nations Research Institute in Geneva, and in multidisciplinary research teams spanning the social and natural sciences both here and abroad. I currently work on an Australian Research Council DECRA project exploring 'Fair Food Futures, Civil Society and the SDGS', as well as research on SDGs and civil society more broadly. I am also a Future Earth Fellow, treasurer of the Australasian Agrifood Research Network, and a Research Associate with the Centre for Social Economy in Nicaragua.
| Featured projects | Duration |
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Food, Farming and Financialisation: Agri-food Transformations in Australia ARC Discovery Project |
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Fair Food Futures, Civil Society and the Sustainable Development Goals (2019–2023) Australian Research Council |
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
Freeman, Camille and Smith, Kiah (2024). From coalitions to social movements: Lessons from civic food coalition formation in Australia. The International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 30 (1), 1-17. doi: 10.48416/ijsaf.v30i1.528
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
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
Smith, Kiah (2012). Gender and food security in a fair, green economy?. Development, 55 (1), 81-89. doi: 10.1057/dev.2011.118
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, 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.
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.
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., 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. 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 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.
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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
Research Reports
Smith, Kiah (2024). Fair Food Futures: transforming food systems through food justice. F St Lucia, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland.
Smith, Kiah, Azeredo, Rafael, Coe, Neil, Cross, Rebecca, Heyman-Griffiths, Seren, Neilson, Jeff, Pritchard, Bill and Wang, Zoe (2024). Coastal horticulture in Northeastern Australia: global networks and regional development. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland.
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) .
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