Brett Bennett

Brett Bennett is an Associate Professor in Modern History at Western Sydney University and Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Johannesburg. He holds affiliations with the Institute for Culture and Society and the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment. His research focuses on the intersection of human actions and natural processes in shaping ecosystems, scientific ideas, and conservation policies. Key areas include environmental history, British imperial history, and the history of science, with a recent emphasis on golf’s environmental and political history in Asia and Africa.

Education: PhD and MA in History from the University of Texas at Austin.

Research interests include global forestry management, invasive species dynamics, water conservation policies in South Africa, and historical climate science. His work bridges historical methodologies with ecological and policy analysis, contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to environmental sustainability.

Current projects involve analyzing Australia’s forestry aid impact in Asia/Africa, historical plant nursery data with ecologists, and golf’s colonial-era environmental legacy. Over 40 research outputs include three books, peer-reviewed articles, and collaborations across history, geography, and ecology.

He supervises HDR students in environmental history and imperial studies. Grants include Australian Research Council-funded projects on heritage conservation and global climate theory history.

Labs/Teams: Collaborations include the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment and international teams in ecology and urban planning. Media features include ABC Radio’s *The Science Show* and *The New Republic*.