Academic profile

 

Professor Robinson is author of seven single-author books, 150 papers in refereed journals and over 70 book chapters. He has held positions in the Universities of Oxford, Edinburgh, Kingston London, South Australia and Adelaide as well as visiting positions in 18 universities in Australia, Canada, China, India, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. A human geographer, his research focuses on rural development and environmental management, including implementation of agri-environment schemes and ‘green’ decision making by householders. He has led and worked on research projects funded by the Australian Research Council, the European Union, the Economic and Social Research Council (UK), charitable foundations (including Carnegie, Earthwatch, Leverhulme and Gilchrist), and governments at various levels.

His latest book, Transforming Rural China (Edward Elgar), examines the dramatic changes in the Chinese countryside over the last four decades against the backdrop of rapid urbanization, technological innovation and China’s rise to global power status. Previous books include Geographies of Agriculture (Pearson), Methods and Techniques in Human Geography (Wiley), and Conflict and Change in the Countryside (Wiley). He has also edited the Handbook on the Globalization of Agriculture (Edward Elgar), Sustainable Rural Systems (Ashgate) and A Social Geography of Canada (Dundurn Press). Editor of the Elsevier journal, Land Use Policy for 12 years and now Editor Emeritus, he has been Editor-in-Chief of another Elsevier journal, Research in Globalization, since its inception in 2019.

Guy’s office holding currently includes Chair/Treasurer of the IGU Commission on Agricultural Geography and Land Engineering (AGLE) and Vice-President of the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia (RGSSA). He has been Chair of the Rural Geography Research Group of the RGS-IBG, President of the British Australian Studies Association (BASA), Secretary of the British Universities’ Heads of Geography, a member of the Council of British Geography (CoBRIG), and a member of the Geography Panel for the UK’s Research Assessment Exercise.

 

 

 

Teaching

 

University of Adelaide

Sustainable Cities – UG & PG

Environmental Planning and Governance - UG

Field-work – UG

 

 

Research interests

 

Guy’s recent research has focused on multifunctional agriculture and rural landscapes in peri-urban areas in China and Australia, irrigators’ responses to risk in South Australia’s Riverland, and planning measures to improve preparedness for bushfires/wildfires. He is working on a book about ‘The Forest Transition’ for the International Geographical Union (IGU) Series on Contemporary Geographies. The research in China has involved collaboration with academics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Institute for Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research -IGSNRR) and has included work on ecosystems services and the impact of government policies on Chinese agriculture. In Australia he has led an Australian Research Council-funded project on “Bushfires and Biodiversity,” examining the tension between the need to preserve property and human life versus maintenance of biodiversity. He is currently working on an evaluation of the implementation of a new bushfire warning system across Australia. Previous research has focused on various aspects of rural development and environmental management, mainly in Australasia, Canada and the UK. He has also been involved in European Union-funded projects to help ensure the recovery of Bosnia-Herzegovina following the break-up and war in the former Yugoslavia.

 

 

 

 

Current PhD students

 

University of Adelaide

Virginie Ducruc

Zhongqi Feng

Muoneke Obumneke

 

Flinders University

Yun-Seh Lee

 

 

Recent PhD students

 

University of Adelaide

Barry Lincoln

Julia Short

Bingjie Song

 

 

 

 

Category/Classification

 

rural development, environmental management