Rachel Hay

Profile

Rachel Hay is a Social Scientist and early career researcher for the College of Business Law and Governance at James Cook University, Townsville, Australia. Rachel's PhD research focussed on "Technology Adoption by Women in Agriculture". Rachel’s research extends to trans-disciplinary approaches to sustained behaviour change in social marketing, technology adoption and environmental protection interventions. Projects around changing behaviour include the adoption of technology in rural, regional and remote areas, reducing sediment and nutrient run-off in sugar cane farming and grazing and the Digital Homestead Project.

Leadership

Dr Hay is the Adoption Stream Leader in the JCU Agricultural Technology and Adoption Centre (Ag-TAC), her passion is to support rural, regional and remote regions to get connected, stay connected and use their connection towards sustainable regional growth of agricultural industries and their communities. Rachel is a Research Fellow with the Cairns Institute and a member of the Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science. Rachel is also a member Pacific Connect (building stronger relationships between people in Australia and the Pacific).

Books and Book Chapters

Editorial and Reviewing

• Guest editor Oceans and Coastal Management Oceans and Coastal Management Special Issue

• Journal of Social Marketing (Emerald Insight)
• Ecological Management & Restoration (Wiley)
• Oceans and Coastal Management (Elsevier) (Guest Editor)
• Emotion, Space, Society (Elsevier)
• Environmental Science and Policy (Elsevier)

Media

Rural women taking tech reins, 2014

High-tech may be revolutionary for rural women, 2015

Hi-Tech Helps Women on the Farm, 2015

Women use tech to drive cattle farming business in rural Australia, 2016

Women take the lead with technology on cattle properties, 2016

James Cook University researchers hard at work on scientific breakthroughs, Best of the Best, 2017

Ag-Tech... So What? Episode 49: Rachel Hay on the role of women in agtech adoption, 2019

Women calling the shots on Farm Tech, 2020

'More control over the property' for women tackling tech on Far North Farms, 2020

Previous Experience

Rachel started work as a Jillaroo on a small cattle station outside Townsville, QLD, then moved on to work as a technician with the Bureau of Sugar Experimentation in Tully. Moving to the big smoke Rachel transitioned into a career in marketing and administration, working for large corporations in Melbourne and Sydney. More recently, Rachel with her husband ran a paddock raised pig farm and now runs a small hobby farm.