Rate My Professor Monica Seini

Dr. Monica Seini is a Lecturer in the Gnibi College of Indigenous Australian Peoples at Southern Cross University. Holding a PhD from Griffith University, she has amassed over two decades of professional experience in academic roles at the University of Queensland, Griffith University, and Southern Cross University, complemented by senior policy and project positions in Queensland Government departments focused on environment and health. Her background is diverse, encompassing environmental science, sociology, policy, and politics.

Seini's research focuses on Indigenous research methodologies, curriculum development, the interactions between Indigenous peoples and natural resource development including extractivism, as well as broader themes in development, environment, and health. She teaches a wide array of subjects, including environmental policy, environmental sustainability, Indigenous peoples and the environment (with emphasis on extractivism), health policy and planning, Indigenous health, natural resource management, community engagement, development studies, science/technology/society interfaces, and sociology of religion. As an academic supervisor, she mentors PhD, Professional Doctorate, Masters by Research, and Honours students across Southern Cross University and Griffith University, with a track record of successful completions. Her scholarly contributions include several key publications such as "Including Indigenous Knowledge in Land Use Governance and Decision-Making: A Dialogue on Experiences, Challenges and Opportunities" (2025, co-authored with Catherine Howlett and others, published in Arctic Review on Law and Politics), "Moolawang Ngayagang Yanba: Developing Relationships with Lake Illawarra" (2024, with Jade Kennedy and others), "Postgraduate work-integrated learning: Using diversity to foreground employability" (2022, with Katrina Lyons and others), "Retaining Indigenous students in tertiary education: lessons from the Griffith School of Environment" (co-authored with Catherine Howlett, Chris Matthews, and Jo-Anne Ferreira), and "Neoliberalism, mineral development and Indigenous people: A framework for Indigenous peoples–state negotiation" (2011, with Catherine Howlett and Natalie Osborne). She is also a seven-year member of the CSIRO Social and Interdisciplinary Science Human Research Ethics Committee (CSSHREC) and currently collaborates with colleagues at the University of Queensland on a work-integrated learning initiative.