Dr Lijun Summerhayes

Biography

Dr Lijun Summerhayes is a Postdoc Research Fellow at the School of Architecture and Built Environment (ABE), Engineering Faculty, QUT. She is passionate about building sustainable food systems in both built and natural environments. Her research revolves around land use planning, policy and governance to transform food systems for the betterment of future human settlements.

She was an experienced and qualified urban and regional planning practitioner, specialised in land use and infrastructure planning, before obtaining her PhD conferral at QUT. With significant working experience with the Queensland state government in infrastructure planning and policy development, she brings a unique blend of practical expertise and academic knowledge to her research endeavours.

Her research focuses on policy and governance at the intersection of land use planning and food systems. In this transdisciplinary approach, Dr Summerhayes urges for better land use planning, policy development, and governance to sustain food systems, especially in the confluence of the complex dynamics influenced by global megatrends such as climate change, rapid urbanisation, and globalisation. She establishes a Trans-Governance and Food Systems (Tr-GaF) framework for food policy integration, adopting of which she emphasises is essential to improve food security and achieve the UN's 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Dr Summerhayes is actively collaborating and involved in various research initiatives with the Future Food System Cooperative Research Centre (FFS CRC). Through collaboration with CRC, CSIRO, food industry groups, and multiple universities, she endeavours to promote innovative approaches in transforming and advancing food systems as sustainable and resilient ecosystems locally and globally.