Staff Member in Profile: Dr Sarah Holdsworth

Sarah Holdsworth is a Lecturer within the School of Property Construction and Project Management at RMIT University. Over the past 15 years she has taught future Built Environment professionals, nationally and internationally, within the disciplines of Property, Construction, Project Management, Planning, Landscape Design, Engineering, Environment and Social Science content and concepts in the areas of sustainability and environmental management.
Sarah’s professional roles have involved change projects in relation to tertiary learning and teaching, academic development in higher education, theorisations of academic identity and subjectivity, and improved environmental and sustainability performance within organisations. This experience has provided her with an understanding of a wide range of environmental tools and their application in companies and other organisations, the community consultation process, and the workings of both the private and public sector in relation to environmental and sustainability issues. Her interests lie in the development of long term strategies based on substantial changes to social and technological paradigms to develop pathways towards sustainability.
Sarah’s main research focus is the identification of key mechanisms required to turn sustainability innovations into embedded practice in a university and professional context.
Sarah‘s current research projects include the development of learning activities and materials to foster urgent skills for an environmentally constrained future, and devising drivers for the diffusion of sustainability studies in higher education programs. Specifically, this work focusses on understanding the diffusion and application of RMIT’s graduate attributes within its alumni, and the development of resilience in relation to undergraduate and post graduate curriculum. In addition, Sarah’s research focuses on the factors that affect project commitment within volunteers, and issues of liveability as informed by planning, design and development in Victoria.

Profile Submitted by Dr. Sarah Holdsworth