Ms Elizabeth Murphy-May

Research Associate

School of Environmental and Life Sciences

Email:elizabeth.murphymay@newcastle.edu.au

Career Summary

Biography

Liz Murphy-May is a PhD student in the discipline of geography and environmental studies. Liz's research is grounded in learning to tread gently and responsibly as a non-Indigenous white settler on stolen Aboriginal lands. Her research is situated within an existing intercultural, Indigenous and non-Indigenous research collective called Yandaarra on Gumbaynggirr Country (mid-north coast NSW).

Yandaarra is Gumbaynggirr language and means 'shifting camp together'. Led by Gumbaynggirr Elders and Custodians, including Aunty Shaa Smith, Uncle Bud Marshall, and Neeyan Smith, the research collective looks to better understand, and practice, caring for ourselves, each other and Country during the creation time of now. Arising out of her continuing relationship with Country and through Aunty Shaa's invitation, Liz's research within Yandaarra is centred on attending to more-than-human and living protocols and agreements as an ongoing practice of deepening land relationships and land justice.

Qualifications

Bachelor Development Studies, University of Newcastle

Keywords

Indigenous-led
collaborative research
land
more-than-human
sovereignties

Fields of Research

Code	Description	Percentage
440601	Cultural geography	40
440604	Environmental geography	30
450399	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander environmental knowledges and management not elsewhere classified	30

Professional Experience

UON Appointment

Title	Organisation / Department
Casual Academic	University of Newcastle School of Environmental and Life Sciences Australia

Awards

Prize

Year	Award
2021	Discipline of Geography Honours Prize School of Environmental and Life Sciences, The University of Newcastle
2017	Buchmann Award for Tourism Achievements Faculty of Business and Law University of Newcastle

Recognition

Year	Award
2021	2020 Faculty Commendation List Faculty of Science and Information Technology, The University of Newcastle
2017	2017 Faculty Commendation List Faculty of Science and Information Technology, The University of Newcastle
2016	2016 Faculty Commendation List Faculty of Science and Information Technology, The University of Newcastle
2015	2015 Faculty Commendation List Faculty of Science and Information Technology The University of Newcastle

Research Award

Year	Award
2021	Faculty of Science Medal Faculty of Science and Information Technology The University of Newcastle
2020	Jim Rose Geography Award for Highly Commended Presentation on a Human Geography Topic Geographical Society of New South Wales

Scholarship

Year	Award
2022	Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship – Academic Pathway Scheme (VC Scholarships) Australian Government Department of Education

Teaching

Code	Course	Role	Duration
SCIE1002	Multidisciplinary Laboratories College of Engineering, Science and Environment (CESE), University of Newcastle In this course, students will learn essential laboratory and fieldwork skills required in both their future field and across a range of other diverse science disciplines. As part of a research team of peers from the geographic discipline, and using the university as a living laboratory, students will investigate practical research questions using multiple disciplinary approaches. Students will then communicate their research findings for scientific and lay audiences.	Sessional Academic	21/2/2022 - 29/5/2026
ENVS1003	Environmental Values and Ethics College of Engineering, Science, & Environment (CESE), The University of Newcastle The course introduces students to the ideological causes of environmental destruction (despotism) and responses to them in the form of late twentieth century environmental philosophies such as: Native Ecology, Animal Liberation, The Land Ethic, Deep Ecology, Ecofeminism and Social Ecology. The examination of 'environmental' values and ethics is linked to a critical evaluation of contemporary social values and the idea of an ecologically sustainable society. The application of contemporary ethics to professional practice, experimentation and social action is critically considered.	Sessional Academic	22/2/2022 - 13/11/2026
ENVS2002	Envrionmental Legislation and Planning College of Engineering, Science and Environment (CESE), University of Newcastle This course begins by outlining how the Australian legal system works. It considers the role of international conventions and their implications for environmental control both internationally and nationally. It then turns its attention to examine the environmental planning system of land use and development control in NSW. The course introduces students to the different types of environmental assessments required, as well as a range of regulatory approaches used to achieve a greater understanding of the environmental impacts of development proposals and activities within the State. Through a combination of lectures (face-to-face, online and specialist guests) and tutorials, students will explore how environmental legislation and planning laws work in NSW against the backdrop of Australia’s legal environmental obligations.	Sessional Academic	20/2/2023 - 30/5/2025
GEOG2080	Cites and Regions College of Engineering, Science and Environment (CESE), University of Newcastle GEOG2080 examines the economic, social and cultural dynamics of cities and regions, and contemporary shifts in the theories through which we understand them. The course draws on a series of case studies of Australian as well as international cities, regions, communities and policies to explain patterns of urban, suburban and regional growth and decline, change and continuity. Topics covered include: the impacts of colonisation on shaping Australian places; urban economic and socio-cultural diversity; changing urban forms; sustainable urban and regional development; policy challenges for the management of urban and regional development; and the challenges of urban and regional growth and decline.	Sessional Academic	20/2/2024 - 30/5/2025

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Publications

For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.

Journal article (2 outputs)

Year

Citation

Altmetrics

Link

2025

Smith YIAS, Smith N, Murphy-May L, Daley L, Wright S, Hodge P, 'Reframing more-than-human thinking as Country-led practice: Deepening land relations with/as Gumbaynggirr Country', Environment and Planning F

DOI	10.1177/26349825251323136
Co-authors	Sarah Wright, Lara Daley

2024

Shaa Smith A, Marshall UB, Smith N, Murphy-May L, Daley L, Hodge P, Wright S, 'What Does Country-Led Mean from Who/Where We Are on Gumbaynggirr Ngambaa Country?', AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHER [C1]

We invite you to join us to dig Garlaany, pipis, at Middle Head Beach, a place where Ngambaa and Gumbaynggirr Countries come together on the mid-north coast of so-calle... [more]

We invite you to join us to dig Garlaany, pipis, at Middle Head Beach, a place where Ngambaa and Gumbaynggirr Countries come together on the mid-north coast of so-called NSW, Australia. Here, digging Garlaany is a Country-led practice that brings rich embodied meaning to the re-creation of Gumbaynggirr Ngambaa knowledge. As agential beings living on stolen land, Garlaany continue to call, shift, and teach those who listen, about how knowledge is co-created through a more-than-human relationality in/as place, in/as time. Yet, what do we mean by Country-led? How might we practice it, as a collective of Gumbaynggirr and non-Gumbaynggirr people working together on stolen Aboriginal land? In this paper, we aim to articulate some of the complexities of what Country-led means for us as Yandaarra, an intercultural research collaboration whose research practice is informed by Gumbaynggirr Ngambaa Country. We invite you to join us digging Garlaany. Our digging together is offered both as part of our methodology and as a lived reality¿how we come into being together through Country-led practices in our research. In this place and at this time, our togetherness at Middle Head Beach is held by Gumbaynggirr Ngambaa Country and its Custodians, who share with us the old ways to help us to something new, re-learning and remembering as healing relationships, as Yandaarra.

DOI	10.1080/00049182.2024.2434282
Co-authors	Sarah Wright, Lara Daley, Paul Hodge

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