Rate My Professor Alec Thornton

Dr. Alec Thornton served as Senior Lecturer in Development Geography in the School of Science at UNSW Canberra, University of New South Wales, from October 2008 to November 2020. He subsequently held positions as Research to Practice Associate at the UNSW Sydney Institute for Global Development from December 2020 to May 2021 and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Geography at UNSW Canberra. Thornton earned his PhD in Development Studies from the University of Sussex in 2006, following postgraduate training in Rural Development at the same university from 2001 to 2002. During his tenure at UNSW, he was responsible for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in geography and development studies, as well as PhD supervision. His academic background equipped him to bridge theoretical and practical dimensions of development challenges.

Thornton's research specializations include development geography, urban agriculture, food systems governance, urban governance, climate change and human mobility, and participatory methods for sustainable livelihoods and food security monitoring and evaluation. He conducted empirical case studies in Sierra Leone, Uganda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Zambia, Australia, Germany, and the USA. In Sierra Leone's rural North-Western Province, Thornton collaborated with the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute and Fourah Bay College on a peer-based interview model using videos to identify post-harvest handling, processing technology, and training needs for farmers. Key publications encompass his authored monograph Space and Food in the City: Cultivating Social Justice and Urban Governance through Urban Agriculture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), which examines urban agriculture's potential to empower marginalized communities and reshape urban food governance in developed and developing contexts. He also edited Urban Food Democracy and Governance in North and South (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). Prominent articles include “The Lucky Country”? A Critical Exploration of Community Gardens in Australian Cities (2017), Hard Times in Apia? Urban Landlessness and the Church in Samoa (2013), Garden of Eden? The Impact of Resettlement on Squatters' Agriculture in Fiji (2009), and Cultivating Kaunda's Plan for Self-Sufficiency: Is Urban Agriculture the Answer? (2010). Thornton's scholarship has informed discussions on integrating urban food systems into smart city policymaking and stakeholder collaboration for resilient development.