PLaCE Research Group

PLaCE acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung/Bunurong language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we live and work. PLaCE respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. PLaCE also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waterways across Australia, and the world, where we conduct our business.

PLaCE is RMIT’s new transdisciplinary home for regenerative education research, co-located in the School of Education and Regenerative Futures Institute
PLaCE brings together established research programs dedicated to cultural and ecological regeneration through reciprocal knowledge exchange, mentorship, and shared capacity building
PLaCE cultivates and revitalises theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical approaches which are grounded in relationships with living places, languages, cultures, histories and futures
PLaCE connects local, national, and international networks to advance university-wide commitments towards responsible practice and self-determined pathways to justice for First Peoples

Place, Language, and Culture in Education

Regenerating Educational Cultures and Histories

This theme houses our research program on cultural regeneration, counter-histories, and truth-telling across diverse educational contexts, grounded in reciprocity.

Regenerating Educational Places and Ecologies

This theme houses our research on disaster resilience, more-than-human pedagogies of place, and climate justice through participatory, community-led approaches to education.

Regenerating Literacies and Design in Education

This theme houses our research into situated, creative, and decolonising literacies and design across digital and place-based learning environments.

Join Our Regular Gatherings

The Archipelago Reading Group meets fortnightly online and in-person at RMIT City Campus. Inspired by Édouard Glissant’s poetic philosophy of place, the group reads out loud across a curated selection of process-relational, diasporic, and anti-colonial texts.

The monthly PLaCE Seminar Series offers an informal space for local and visiting researchers to share work in an open community forum.

Our annual Reading-Writing Retreat is a three-day event that incorporates deep reading and sharing of textual insights alongside writing blocks, methods workshops, and research mentorship sessions.

All are welcome! Please join our mailing list or email david.rousell@rmit.edu.au to get involved.

Recent news and special events

01

Land-Based Relationships

PLaCE Research Group organised a full day gathering at CERES Community Environmental Park. Visiting scholars Erin Manning and Brian Massumi shared experiences from the 3Ecologies Project in Quebec alongside local perspectives from Vicki Couzens, Yin Paradies, Uncle Mick Harvey, David Rousell, Jordan Lacey, Rebecca Hill, and Andrew Goodman. The day unfolded across two panels and sound performance interwoven with walks and shared food from the CERES gardens. Image Credit: 3Ecologies Project.

02

Counter-Histories of the City on Unceded Lands

PLaCE Research Group facilitated this collaborative symposium at the Immigration Museum in partnership with Museums Victoria. The event brought together local and international researchers and young artists from across Naarm (Melbourne) and Djilang (Geelong). Invited speakers included Al Fricker (Deakin), Riikka Hohti (University of Helsinki), David Rousell (RMIT), and Alinta Andrews (RMIT). Image Credit: Stavroula-Efthimia Lampropoulou

01 / 03

Land-Based Relationships

PLaCE Research Group organised a full day gathering at CERES Community Environmental Park. Visiting scholars Erin Manning and Brian Massumi shared experiences from the 3Ecologies Project in Quebec alongside local perspectives from Vicki Couzens, Yin Paradies, Uncle Mick Harvey, David Rousell, Jordan Lacey, Rebecca Hill, and Andrew Goodman. The day unfolded across two panels and sound performance interwoven with walks and shared food from the CERES gardens. Image Credit: 3Ecologies Project.

Go to link

01

Land-Based Relationships

PLaCE Research Group organised a full day gathering at CERES Community Environmental Park. Visiting scholars Erin Manning and Brian Massumi shared experiences from the 3Ecologies Project in Quebec alongside local perspectives from Vicki Couzens, Yin Paradies, Uncle Mick Harvey, David Rousell, Jordan Lacey, Rebecca Hill, and Andrew Goodman. The day unfolded across two panels and sound performance interwoven with walks and shared food from the CERES gardens. Image Credit: 3Ecologies Project.

02

Counter-Histories of the City on Unceded Lands

PLaCE Research Group facilitated this collaborative symposium at the Immigration Museum in partnership with Museums Victoria. The event brought together local and international researchers and young artists from across Naarm (Melbourne) and Djilang (Geelong). Invited speakers included Al Fricker (Deakin), Riikka Hohti (University of Helsinki), David Rousell (RMIT), and Alinta Andrews (RMIT). Image Credit: Stavroula-Efthimia Lampropoulou

Co-Directors

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Dr David Rousell
Associate Professor, School of Education

Dr Gideon Boadu
Senior Lecturer, School of Education

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Institutional Networks & Partners

RMIT University
RMIT School of Education
RMIT Regenerative Futures Institute
Centre for Urban Research (CUR)
Contemporary Art for Social Transformation (CAST)
Climate Change Research Network (CCR-Net)
CO2 Removal Network
Digital Ethnography Research Centre (DERC)
CERES Community Environment Park
Newcastle University, History in Education Research Network (HERMES)
Deakin University, Centre for Research for Educational Impact (REDI)
University of NSW, Vitalities Lab
Notre Dame Australia, Nulungu Research Institute
Simon Fraser University
Southern Cross University
University of Melbourne
Save the Children
UNICEF
Qld Department of Education
Museums Victoria
Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI)
City of Melbourne
Guardians of Earth