Theresa Petray

Dr Theresa Petray (she/her) is an Associate Professor in Sociology and Head of the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences academic group. Theresa is also a Research Fellow of The Cairns Institute. Her research and teaching both centre on the concepts of agency and social change. Theresa is committed to using her academic work to contribute to social justice.

Her primary research focus is on Aboriginal activism and self-determination. Her current research, with Gugu Badhun Nation, looks at economic development and nation-building through the lens of self-determination. This research has led to important partnerships with researchers around Australia and internationally, and was funded by an ARC Discovery Award, administered though UTS 2019-2023.

Theresa has researched Aboriginal protest movements in North Queensland as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social media activism. In particular, she is interested in the ways that seemingly marginalised people exercise agency to speak back to power.

Theresa also has research and professional interests in gender equity. From 2018-2022 she was Coordinator of JCU's Gender Equity Action & Research team (formerly Gender Equity Self-Assessment Team). In this role, she led the development of JCU's SAGE Athena Swan Bronze application, and the subsequent implementation of the Gender Equity Action Plan.

Theresa supervises JCU students in sociology and related disciplines, and has been on supervisory panels for research students from University of Sydney, University of Copenhagen, and Ben Gurion University. In 2022, Theresa was awarded JCU's Advisory Panel Member of the Year award, and in 2016 JCU's Early Career Advisor of the Year award.