Dr Louise Johnson
Dr Louise Johnson
senior ASSOCIATE
Dr Louise Johnson is an Honorary Professor at Deakin University and Honorary (Professorial Fellow) at the University of Melbourne. A graduate of Sydney and Monash universities, she taught for over 40 years in Australian and New Zealand universities and has a solid record of research, policy development, leadership and community activism. She has worked as a University middle manager, mentor and reviewer of curriculum, grant applications, disciplines and degrees.
A human geographer, she is the recipient of grants from governments, philanthropic organisation, community groups and industry to research Geelong’s textile industry, displaced car industry workers, women in the service sector, the growth of the creative industries and most recently analysed the city’s economic resilience and socio-spatial disadvantage. Using a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods, she has also researched suburban housing, planning in Indigenous Australia, the historical geography of the continent and an international comparison of cultural capitals; all of which formed the basis of major books.
She is co-founder and leader of the inter-disciplinary and cross-Faculty HOME Research Hub at Deakin University where she built on her long term commitment to leading and participating in a number of research teams. As well as generating over 100 publications, this work has informed urban, housing and social policy and underpins her role as Deputy Chair of the Board of Northern Futures, a community organisation dedicated to easing long term unemployment in some of Geelong’s most disadvantaged suburbs.
In recognition of this work, in 2011 she received the Institute of Australian Geographers Australia and International Medal for her contribution to urban, social and cultural geography.