Our people

Director
Professor Peta Ashworth is a renowned expert in energy, communication, stakeholder engagement, and technology assessment. She has researched public attitudes towards climate and energy technologies, including wind, carbon capture and storage (CCS), solar photovoltaic, storage, geothermal and hydrogen, for almost two decades. An accomplished speaker and educator, she actively promotes energy literacy globally and contributes to policy briefings and educational events.

Prior to joining Curtin University, Peta was the Director of the Andrew N. Liveris Academy for Innovation and Leadership, and Chair in Sustainable Energy Futures at The University of Queensland (UQ). She was also Chair of the Queensland Hydrogen Taskforce and is a member of CSIRO Hydrogen Mission Advisory Board.

Senior Research Fellow
Maureen Boyle has over 15 years interdisciplinary experience in the energy and development sectors nationally and internationally, with previous roles in government (state and federal), the renewable energy industry, and the not-for-profit sector.

Prior to joining Curtin University, Maureen was a Research Fellow with the Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program at the Australian National University, and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the School of Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences at the University of Tasmania (Perth based).

Senior Research Fellow
Julian joined the CIET in 2025 having worked previously in the UK and Australia. His interests lie in social aspects of the energy transition, including stakeholders views, perceptions and participation in aspects of the transition, the economic, social and environmental aspects of decommissioning offshore oil and gas structures and the application of carbon credits to finance decarbonisation.

He has published over 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and several book chapters. He has co-edited a book and authored numerous consultancy reports for clients including the UNEP, the Australian Government and leading private sector organisations.

Research Fellow
Dr Emma D’Antoine recently completed her PhD researching psychosocial risk factors for offshore oil and gas workers and gained a Chancellor of the University’s Commendation. She is currently based at the Curtin Institute for Energy Transition, researching the views of a range of stakeholders from industry, government, academic and not for profit organisations on the challenges and opportunities of the energy transition. Her academic background is in Psychology and Human Rights.

Associate Professor
Raquel Tardin-Coelho is an architect and urban planner, PhD CUM LAUDE in Urban and Regional Planning (UPC – Barcelona, Spain), with significant experience in Integrated Planning and Design solutions based on cultural and natural landscape preservation, conservation and regeneration. Her work focuses on BioCultural systems for developing strategic plans and projects through systems thinking and regenerative sustainability principles. Raquel has a special interest in developing research projects on Cultural Landscapes & Clean Energy focusing on First Nations Peoples.

Associate Professor
Dr Liam Wagner is an Associate Professor in the Sustainable Engineering Group within the School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at Curtin University. He has secured more than $5 Million in competitive research funding to examine energy markets and their impact on the community. His research interests are primarily in areas of Energy, Environmental and Natural Resource Economics.

Dr Wagner has previously worked on the trading desk of large electricity generation business as a Trader/Analyst. He has also had extensive experience in research and consultancy environments with a range of clients.

Centre Operations Coordinator
Natalie has previously worked in operations support and administrative positions in a variety of sectors. Her previous roles have included executive support in both healthcare and education.

Communications and Engagement Coordinator
Elena Perse is the Communications and Engagement Coordinator at the Curtin Institute for Energy Transition. She has previously worked in the Research Partnerships department of the Curtin Research Office, and she has completed both a Master of Professional Writing and a Postgraduate Certificate in Strategic Communications.

Elena has five years of experience in producing academic, creative and promotional publications. She has demonstrated skills in proofreading, copyediting, typesetting, design and research as well as creative, academic and non-academic writing.

Research Assistant
Ramon operates at the nexus of social sciences, analytics, and tech. His research focuses on how we lead people and organisations, and how to make work better.

Ramon is an advocate for evidence-based practice, which requires robust research that is also accessible and comprehendable to non-academics. He designed and operates a Workforce Analytics platform for Australian non-profit organisations, has given talks on data analytics at inter/national scholarly conferences and published in A* journals such as Organizational Research Methods.

Adjunct Research Fellow
Bishal holds an MSc in Climate Change from UCL London and a PhD from the University of Queensland. His academic journey, rooted in research excellence, includes a significant role as a postdoctoral research fellow with the Net Zero Australia project at the University of Queensland. Prior to his affiliation with Curtin University, Bishal played pivotal roles in management, consulting, and research capacities for over fifteen years.

As a quantitative economic geographer, Bishal’s primary interest lies in evaluating the efficacy and equity of environmental policies across heterogeneous contexts. This multifaceted approach spans critical domains, encompassing energy, plastic, pollution, and climate change.

University Associate (Fulbright Scholar)
Jeffrey B. Jacquet is an environmental and natural resource sociologist with a focus on energy development, including social impacts from the development of renewables and fossil fuels. Dr. Jacquet is one of the first to examine the socio-economic impacts of hydraulic fracturing and has since gone on to study how the siting of large fossil and renewable energy projects affect communities and people. Recently, his work has focused on the community impacts of the transition away from coal energy.

He is co-director Global Coal Transitions Research Network and lead editor of the volume Energy Impacts published by the University Press of Colorado. Dr. Jacquet is currently a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Curtin University Institute for Energy Transition. He is also Associate Professor of Rural, Environmental and Natural Resource Sociology at the School of Environment and Natural Resources at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, USA.

Adjunct Research Fellow
Lydia Maketo is a social scientist researching issues around actors and acceptance in hydrogen technologies, with a background of investigating public attitudes toward technology acceptance. Lydia is passionate about new technology uptake and the associated socio-economic impacts.

She holds a Ph.D. from Curtin University, Perth Australia. Lydia works as a Core Scientist for the REDEFINE H2E Project at Technical University of Munich.

Inaugural Short-Term Fellow
Hannah Uren is a lecturer in psychology in the School of Population at Curtin University. Her research focuses on the psychological determinants of health and environmental behaviour. In particular, she focuses on the interaction of people and their environment, including acceptance of environmental policy, understanding perceptions of environmental activism, promotion of sustainable diets, and the role of messaging in promoting pro-environmental behaviour.

It is her aim to conduct high-quality applied research underpinned by theory that can make a difference to the state of the natural environment and to quality of life.