Rate My Professor Barbara Ribeiro

Dr. Barbara Ribeiro is the Lecturer in Sustainable Development and Deputy Associate Dean of Research in the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia. She earned her PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Auckland, where she conducted research as a Sustainability Transitions Researcher from March 2017 to March 2020. Previously, Ribeiro served as a Lecturer in the Department of Arts and Design at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from March 2008 to December 2011, during which she advised 14 postgraduate dissertations. In January to May 2005, she was a Fellow at Brown University in Providence, United States, developing her Master’s research in the Urban Studies department through the Brown University OIP Fellowship. Her career reflects a commitment to interdisciplinary approaches bridging design, urbanism, and environmental sustainability.

Ribeiro's research focuses on Design for Sustainability Transitions (DfST) in urbanism, innovation and transformation mechanisms such as strategic investment and foresight, sustainability transitions, urban food forestry networks, Urban Living Labs, food systems, regenerative placemaking, and place-dependent sustainability narratives. Key publications include 'Food as a public service for people and pollinators: evidence-based insights from regenerative placemaking in New Zealand—the Waharoa living lab' (Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 2024, with D.E. Pattemore et al.), 'Sustainability Buckets: A Flexible Heuristic for Facilitating Strategic Investment on Place-Dependent Sustainability Narratives' (Sustainability, 2021, with J.A. Turner), 'Urban food forestry networks and Urban Living Labs articulations' (Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 2021, with N. Lewis), 'Food as a public service through government-led regenerative placemaking: evidence-based insights from the Epicurious Garden' (Journal of Urbanism, 2026), and 'Cost Benefit Analysis of Construction and Demolition Waste Diversion from Landfill. A Case Study Based on HLC Ltd Development in Auckland' (Auckland Council Technical Report, 2019, with M. Rohani et al.). As a Certified Sustainability Consultant, her contributions extend to public discourse on edible landscapes, climate-responsive food systems, and urban biodiversity.