Professor
Head of School 
LLB(Otago)
MPlan(Otago)
PhD (Otago)
Richardson Building, room 4C8
Office Hours: Email for an appointment
Tel +64 3 479 3068
Email sophie.bond@otago.ac.nz
Teaching
- ENVI 111 Environment and Society
- GEOG 102 Geographies of Sustainable Futures
- ENVI 211 Environmental History of New Zealand
- GEOG 280 Research Methodology in Human Geography
- ENVI 311 Understanding Environmental Issues
- GEOG 380 Field Research Studies (Arts)
- GEOG 376 Geographies of Contestation, Action and Change
- GEOG 463 Geographies of Justice
Research interests
- Democratic engagement, decolonisation, and an ethic of care
- Spaces of democracy, contestation, resistance and the formation of collectivities in the context of neoliberalism(s) and in response to environmental and/or social change
- Decolonisation within settler colonial spaces
- Environmental governance and politics, environmental and climate justice
- Geographies of activism, politics of place, power
- Climate change adaptation and governance, community engagement and participation in planning processes
- Qualitative and feminist methodologies, post structural approaches, political ecology, discourse theory
- Feminist geopolitics and feminist ethic of care
Potential student projects
I am interested in supervising students on projects that relate to any of the above themes.
Postgraduate supervision
Current doctoral supervision
- Elizabeth Soal (Geography): Collaborative catchment management
- Ariane Bray (Geography): Climate Justice in local body governance climate change adaptation
- Ellen Ozarka (Geography): Narrative change theory
- Jodie Jarvis (Social Anthropology): Experiences of ecological distress
Completed PhDs
- Bahaminsadat Badihi (2026) (Geography): Gender and Public space in Iran
- Jule Barth (2025) (Geography): Political Subjectivities, Knowledge and Care
- Sonja Bohn (2025) (Geography): Nature, Climate Change and Tourism
- Sonja Mueller (2024) (Geography): Community led hazards planning in Westland
- Kyle Matthews (2023) (Education) Co-Supervisor with Karen Nairn: Radical youth activities and hope
- Sarah Harrison (2022) (Social and Preventive Medicine): Health impacts of increased flooding and SLR from climate change, co-supervisor with Alex MacMillan and Janet Stephenson
- Nadia Tenouri (2020) (Geography): Gender and conservation
- Taimaz Lariman (2018) (Geography): Defining the Social Dimensions of Urban Sustainability. (Secondary Supervisor)
- Rini Astuti (2016) (Geography at Victoria University of Wellington): REDD+ Governmentality: Governing Forest Power and Politics in Indonesia. (Secondary Supervisor)
- Morten Gjerde (2015) (Geography at Victoria University of Wellington): Urban Design Guidance and Control. (Secondary Supervisor)
- Gradon Diprose (2015) (Geography at Victoria University of Wellington): Beyond waged work: the everyday politics of alternative socio-economic practices
- Amanda Thomas (2014) (Geography at Victoria University of Wellington): Accessing Nature: The battle of Huruni (which received the NZGS President’s Award for Best Thesis 2014)
Completed Master's
- Jasmin McCormack (2024)
- Jamie McKenzie (2023)
- Ella Acheson (2023)
- Katie Knopp (2022)
- Rebecca Kennedy-Perkins (2021) (Geography): Should we give a poo? Farming and Climate Change Mitigation
- Rachel Yzelman (2020) (Geography): Former Refugees Settling Well: An ethic of care?
- Neelum Patel (2019) (MA Geography): Male Advocacy as a Means to Address Gender Based Violence in Post-Conflict Bougainville
- Charlotta Heyd (2018) (MPlan): Community Engagement in the Context of Increased Flooding
- Livi Whyte (2018) (MPlan): Co-Housing and Sustainability
- Nathaniel Christensen (2017) (MA Geography): The Sharp Edge of Precarity: Homelessness in Aotearoa/New Zealand and a framework of multiple precarities
- Holly McGrouther (2016) (MPlan): Public Participation in Resource management Hearings: post-politics in planning?
- Nyssa Payne-Harker (2016) (MPlan): Shared Spaces or Contested Places? Examining the role of Kāi Tahu Whānui in Port Chalmers and Bluff
- Madeline Hall (2016) (MA): From Producers to Polluters: Farmers’ experiences in the Lake Taupo Water Quality Trading Programme. (Secondary Supervisor)
- William Harrington (2014) (MPlan): Irrigation for the sake of irrigation: Situating the Social Effects of Large Scale Irrigation Projects within New Zealand’s Neoliberal Planning System
- Benjamin Speedy (2013) (MEnvSt Victoria University of Wellington): Seizing the Opportunity? CO2 emissions from land transport and the redevelopment of Christchurch
- Cristian Leaman (2013) (MDevSt, Victoria University of Wellington): Encounters of Neoliberalism and Nature in the Chilean Context. A case study of the Nuble River
- Lillian Fougere (2013) (MEnvSt, Victoria University of Wellington): Democracy, Disagreement and Environmentalists’ Participation: A case study of coal mining on conservation land
- Raven Cretney (2013) (MEnvSt, Victoria University of Wellington): Community Resilience from the Bottom Up: A place based perspective of grass roots community resilience
- Emma Moon (2013) (MEnvSt, Victoria University of Wellington): Youth and Climate Change Activism in Aotearoa New Zealand
- Camilla Morley (2011) (MEnvSt, Victoria University of Wellington): Motivating Public Transport Use: Travel behaviour and integrated ticketing for Greater Wellington
- Benjamin Barrett (2011) (MEnvSt, Victoria University of Wellington): Sustainable Development Narratives in New Zealand Business
Publications
Matthews, K. R., Kidman, J., Bond, S., & Nairn, K. (2026). How does the settler-colonialism problematise the concepts of infrastructure and sabotage? Insights from debates about the Treaty of Waitangi in Aotearoa. Human Geography. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/19427786261420800 Journal - Research Article
Diprose, G., Bond, S., Stephenson, J., & Kawharu, M. (2024). Supporting justice in local government: Climate response in Aotearoa New Zealand. Policy Quarterly, 20(4), 94-102. doi: 10.26686/pq.v20i4.9628 Journal - Research Article
Barth, J., Bond, S., & Stephenson, J. (2023). Community engagement for climate change adaptation: Research summary for South Dunedin Future Programme. Dunedin, New Zealand: Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10523/15157 Working Paper; Discussion Paper; Technical Report
Bond, S., Thomas, A., & Diprose, G. (2023). Stopping oil: Climate justice and hope. London, UK: Pluto Press, 160p. Authored Book - Research
Bond, S., & Barth, J. (2020). Care-full and just: Making a difference through climate change adaptation. Cities, 102, 102734. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2020.102734 Journal - Research Article