DrLian Sinclair

Dr Lian Sinclair is Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Geography.

Lian researches the political economy, geography, development and governance of mining and energy in Australia, Southeast Asia and globally. Her research focuses on how corporations, governments, community groups and NGOs contest the uneven costs and benefits of the energy transition. This includes how groups embrace, adapt to or resist mining and infrastructure projects.

Situated at the intersection of human geography, political economy and development studies, their research draws on qualitative research skills including critical ethnographic methods and deep partnerships with community organisations. She has worked in large collaborative multidisciplinary teams with business, government and other academics to solve medium-term policy problems in Australia.

Born and raised in Western Australia, Lian completed high school and their undergraduate education during the last global commodity supercycle - or 'mining boom' - circa 2005-2015. This profoundly reshaped the politics, economics and culture of WA. Witnessing the growth, wealth, waste and inequality of the boom - punctuated by the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 - sparked a lifelong interest in political economy, uneven development and social change.

Lian received her PhD from Murdoch University's Asia Research Centre in 2020 and was awarded 'Best Traditional Thesis' of the year in the Collage of Arts, Business, Law and Social Science. Research on corporate-community conflict involving Australian mining companies was based on 18-months of fieldwork in Indonesia funded by an Endeavour postgraduate scholarship.