Rate My Professor Sean Connelly

Associate Professor Sean Connelly is an academic staff member in the School of Geography at the University of Otago, within the Division of Humanities. He earned a BA (Hons) from the University of Guelph, an MA from the University of Northern British Columbia, and a PhD in Geography from Simon Fraser University in 2009. His doctoral research focused on community engagement for sustainable community development, drawing on case studies of urban, rural, and First Nation community sustainability initiatives. Prior to his PhD, Connelly worked for ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability in the Johannesburg office in preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Following his doctorate, he conducted postdoctoral research with the BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance on local food initiatives as catalysts for sustainability. He joined the University of Otago as a lecturer and was promoted to Associate Professor in December 2025.

Connelly's research examines sustainable communities and their contributions to sustainable development, particularly the interplay between planning, policy, and local environmental action. His work addresses three key themes: the convergence of social economy and sustainable community development; local food initiatives, including farmers markets, community gardens, community-supported agriculture, and food hubs, as drivers of broader sustainability transitions; and rural development in the face of resource-dependent boom-bust cycles. He is a member of the University of Otago's Food Waste Innovation research theme and the Our Food Network in Dunedin. Connelly teaches GEOG 216 Resource Evaluation and Planning and GEOG 472 Developments in Environmental Management, and contributes to courses such as ENVI 311 Understanding Environmental Issues, GEOG 102 Human Geography, GEOG 285 Southern Landscapes, GEOG 380 Field Research Studies, GEOG 397 Environmental Management, HUMS 301 Internship Practicum, and HUMS 401 Internship Practicum. His influential publications include 'Gauging attitudes and behaviours: Meat consumption and potential reduction' (Appetite, 2018), 'Bridging sustainability and the social economy: Achieving community transformation through local food initiatives' (Critical Social Policy, 2011), 'Regenerative agriculture and a more-than-human ethic of care: a relational approach to understanding transformation' (Agriculture and Human Values, 2023), 'New Zealand's small town transition: The experience of demographic and economic change and place based responses' (New Zealand Geographer, 2019), and 'Temporal legacies of coal mining in the West Coast, New Zealand: Path-dependency or path-creation?' (Environmental Research: Energy, 2025). He also writes a regular column, 'Seeds for Change', in the Otago Daily Times on food and sustainability.