Sarah Holdsworth
Biographic Data
| ID | 6320187 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sarah Holdsworth |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sarah |
| FAMILY NAME | Holdsworth |
| SIGNATURE | HOLDSWORTH S |
| AFFILIATIONS | RMIT University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9813-0932 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 11 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Increasing Women in Construction Using Public Procurement
The Australian construction industry remains one of the most male‐dominated sectors, with women comprising only 12.5% of the workforce and 3% of trades. In this context, policy plays a critical role in challenging entrenched gender norms, removing structural barriers, and promoting equitable access, participation, and progression for women and gender‐diverse individuals. Although gender workforce targets are widely used internationally to improve…
Upskilling trades for a low carbon future
A global transition to low-carbon, resource-efficient economies is occurring in response to risks posed by climate change and environmental degradation.Hydrogen is proposed as a zero-carbon substitute for natural gas with the potential to reduce carbon emissions in homes and businesses.Trades, including gasfitting, will be affected by the transition to a low-carbon economy and require upskilling to develop competencies to work with hydrogen to en…
Supporting a mentally healthy place of study
INTRODUCTION: Students can expect to experience stressors associated with their studies that can have detrimental effects on their mental well-being if not properly managed. Drawing on a positive psychology paradigm, protective factors can help students to counter study-related stressors and contribute to their mental well-being and academic success. The relationship between protective factors, such as maintaining perspective and building network…
Career aspiration and workplace reality – Lived experience of early career professional women in construction
Gender Bias in the Australian Construction Industry
While most industry sectors in the Australian workforce have consistently improved regarding the participation of women, the construction industry remains an exception. Despite multiple gender equality initiatives and regulations at all levels of the Australian Government, the proportion of women employed in the construction industry has steadily declined. In 2020, only 1% of the trades and technician positions in the Australian construction indu…
Pedagogies for sustainability
Purpose This paper aims to draw on an in-depth qualitative case study of an undergraduate sustainability education course to show the extent of pedagogical reflection and teaching capability demonstrated in lived practice to support transformative, systemic and capability building learning processes, as advocated in the literature, for effective sustainability education. Design/methodology/approach Transformative learning and capability building …
Contextualising capabilities for public safety in undergraduate sustainability engineering education
Sustainability in university curricula remains important for equipping graduates from all disciplines with capabilities to respond to complex social, economic, and environmental challenges in their future professional roles. Situating sustainability learning within disciplinary contexts is needed for learners to apply sustainability theory to their future professions. Furthermore, developing capabilities is important to enable graduates to act in…
When Ethics is a Technical Matter
Competencies or capabilities in the Australian higher education landscape and its implications for the development and delivery of sustainability education
The question of how to embed transformative change through the implementation of sustainability principles in our education systems has become increasingly important as complex situations, like pandemics and climate change, challenge societies. Education underpinned by a sustainability paradigm requires students to develop the ability to think critically about the nature of knowledge and about the ways in which knowledge is produced and validated…
Hydrogen for all? Household energy vulnerability and the transition to hydrogen in Australia
Planning, gas pipelines and community safety
Graduate ability to show workplace sustainability leadership
More likely to be killed by a coconut’
Best practice in land use planning linked to hazardous infrastructure requires that views of multiple stakeholders are considered. This study addresses the varying views of risk held by two groups of experts – pipeline sector engineers and land use planners – when it comes to decision making about residential development at the urban fringe near existing high pressure gas pipeline infrastructure. Given that third-party activities, particularly ex…
The use of the theory of planned behaviour to assess graduate attributes for sustainability
Higher Education plays an influential role in societal transformation towards sustainability. An understanding of the application of sustainability learning from degree programs in a graduate’s professional practice can serve as an important feedback loop for developing and advancing sustainability in higher education. A knowledge gap exists between graduate learning outcomes and employability skills, with little exploration of the methods to col…
Not drowning, waving. Resilience and university
Constant change and stress in the workplace require workers with resilience. Universities have a key role to play in developing this vital capability. Past research has measured levels of university student resilience, but little is known about resilience from the learner’s perspective. This semi-structured interview study of 38 undergraduate and postgraduate students gives voice to the students’ own understanding of resilience, strategies which …
A Literature Review and Development of a Theoretical Model for Understanding Commitment Experienced by Volunteers Over the Life of a Project
Employee commitment to an organisation is accepted as an important concept in organisation psychology. Yet commitment to a project on which an employee might be working is largely unknown. Additional complications arise when the project makes use of volunteers who donate their time for reasons other than pecuniary reward. The relationships between volunteers, organisations and projects represent a gap in the field of organisational commitment kno…
Vignette question design for the assessment of graduate sustainability learning outcomes
The development of university wide graduate attributes has become an important mechanism for setting generic learning outcomes across higher education institutions. Many universities around the world have developed sets of graduate attributes that they aim to develop through degree programs. Sustainability related attributes have been included in numerous university attribute statements, however, little research exists on methods that can be used…
Weaving complexity and accountability
A sustainability education academic development framework (Sead)
Academic development is one means of reorientating education within higher education (HE) to include sustainability principles. This paper identifies the requirements of academic development programmes that will provide educators with the skills to engage students in the ideas of sustainability and sustainable development. In order to determine what an ideal academic development programme for sustainability education might look like, a theoretica…
Insights into the value of a ‘stand‐alone’ course for sustainability education
Education for sustainability (EfS) is emerging as an urgent imperative and challenge for higher education. But what exactly does it mean to put sustainability into higher education? How do we bring sustainability themes into university curriculum, across the enormous diversity of academic disciplines? This paper describes the experience of teaching a large ‘stand‐alone’ EfS subject which sits within the professional contexts of the large first‐ye…
Hydrogen for all? Household energy vulnerability and the transition to hydrogen in Australia
Vignette question design for the assessment of graduate sustainability learning outcomes
The development of university wide graduate attributes has become an important mechanism for setting generic learning outcomes across higher education institutions. Many universities around the world have developed sets of graduate attributes that they aim to develop through degree programs. Sustainability related attributes have been included in numerous university attribute statements, however, little research exists on methods that can be used…
Insights into the value of a ‘stand‐alone’ course for sustainability education
Education for sustainability (EfS) is emerging as an urgent imperative and challenge for higher education. But what exactly does it mean to put sustainability into higher education? How do we bring sustainability themes into university curriculum, across the enormous diversity of academic disciplines? This paper describes the experience of teaching a large ‘stand‐alone’ EfS subject which sits within the professional contexts of the large first‐ye…
More likely to be killed by a coconut’
Best practice in land use planning linked to hazardous infrastructure requires that views of multiple stakeholders are considered. This study addresses the varying views of risk held by two groups of experts – pipeline sector engineers and land use planners – when it comes to decision making about residential development at the urban fringe near existing high pressure gas pipeline infrastructure. Given that third-party activities, particularly ex…
The use of the theory of planned behaviour to assess graduate attributes for sustainability
Higher Education plays an influential role in societal transformation towards sustainability. An understanding of the application of sustainability learning from degree programs in a graduate’s professional practice can serve as an important feedback loop for developing and advancing sustainability in higher education. A knowledge gap exists between graduate learning outcomes and employability skills, with little exploration of the methods to col…
Insights into the value of a ‘stand‐alone’ course for sustainability education
Education for sustainability (EfS) is emerging as an urgent imperative and challenge for higher education. But what exactly does it mean to put sustainability into higher education? How do we bring sustainability themes into university curriculum, across the enormous diversity of academic disciplines? This paper describes the experience of teaching a large ‘stand‐alone’ EfS subject which sits within the professional contexts of the large first‐ye…
Weaving complexity and accountability
A sustainability education academic development framework (Sead)
Academic development is one means of reorientating education within higher education (HE) to include sustainability principles. This paper identifies the requirements of academic development programmes that will provide educators with the skills to engage students in the ideas of sustainability and sustainable development. In order to determine what an ideal academic development programme for sustainability education might look like, a theoretica…
Vignette question design for the assessment of graduate sustainability learning outcomes
The development of university wide graduate attributes has become an important mechanism for setting generic learning outcomes across higher education institutions. Many universities around the world have developed sets of graduate attributes that they aim to develop through degree programs. Sustainability related attributes have been included in numerous university attribute statements, however, little research exists on methods that can be used…
A Literature Review and Development of a Theoretical Model for Understanding Commitment Experienced by Volunteers Over the Life of a Project
Employee commitment to an organisation is accepted as an important concept in organisation psychology. Yet commitment to a project on which an employee might be working is largely unknown. Additional complications arise when the project makes use of volunteers who donate their time for reasons other than pecuniary reward. The relationships between volunteers, organisations and projects represent a gap in the field of organisational commitment kno…
Not drowning, waving. Resilience and university
Constant change and stress in the workplace require workers with resilience. Universities have a key role to play in developing this vital capability. Past research has measured levels of university student resilience, but little is known about resilience from the learner’s perspective. This semi-structured interview study of 38 undergraduate and postgraduate students gives voice to the students’ own understanding of resilience, strategies which …
More likely to be killed by a coconut’
Best practice in land use planning linked to hazardous infrastructure requires that views of multiple stakeholders are considered. This study addresses the varying views of risk held by two groups of experts – pipeline sector engineers and land use planners – when it comes to decision making about residential development at the urban fringe near existing high pressure gas pipeline infrastructure. Given that third-party activities, particularly ex…
The use of the theory of planned behaviour to assess graduate attributes for sustainability
Higher Education plays an influential role in societal transformation towards sustainability. An understanding of the application of sustainability learning from degree programs in a graduate’s professional practice can serve as an important feedback loop for developing and advancing sustainability in higher education. A knowledge gap exists between graduate learning outcomes and employability skills, with little exploration of the methods to col…
Graduate ability to show workplace sustainability leadership
When Ethics is a Technical Matter
Competencies or capabilities in the Australian higher education landscape and its implications for the development and delivery of sustainability education
The question of how to embed transformative change through the implementation of sustainability principles in our education systems has become increasingly important as complex situations, like pandemics and climate change, challenge societies. Education underpinned by a sustainability paradigm requires students to develop the ability to think critically about the nature of knowledge and about the ways in which knowledge is produced and validated…
Hydrogen for all? Household energy vulnerability and the transition to hydrogen in Australia
Planning, gas pipelines and community safety
Pedagogies for sustainability
Purpose This paper aims to draw on an in-depth qualitative case study of an undergraduate sustainability education course to show the extent of pedagogical reflection and teaching capability demonstrated in lived practice to support transformative, systemic and capability building learning processes, as advocated in the literature, for effective sustainability education. Design/methodology/approach Transformative learning and capability building …
Contextualising capabilities for public safety in undergraduate sustainability engineering education
Sustainability in university curricula remains important for equipping graduates from all disciplines with capabilities to respond to complex social, economic, and environmental challenges in their future professional roles. Situating sustainability learning within disciplinary contexts is needed for learners to apply sustainability theory to their future professions. Furthermore, developing capabilities is important to enable graduates to act in…
Gender Bias in the Australian Construction Industry
While most industry sectors in the Australian workforce have consistently improved regarding the participation of women, the construction industry remains an exception. Despite multiple gender equality initiatives and regulations at all levels of the Australian Government, the proportion of women employed in the construction industry has steadily declined. In 2020, only 1% of the trades and technician positions in the Australian construction indu…
Upskilling trades for a low carbon future
A global transition to low-carbon, resource-efficient economies is occurring in response to risks posed by climate change and environmental degradation.Hydrogen is proposed as a zero-carbon substitute for natural gas with the potential to reduce carbon emissions in homes and businesses.Trades, including gasfitting, will be affected by the transition to a low-carbon economy and require upskilling to develop competencies to work with hydrogen to en…
Supporting a mentally healthy place of study
INTRODUCTION: Students can expect to experience stressors associated with their studies that can have detrimental effects on their mental well-being if not properly managed. Drawing on a positive psychology paradigm, protective factors can help students to counter study-related stressors and contribute to their mental well-being and academic success. The relationship between protective factors, such as maintaining perspective and building network…
Career aspiration and workplace reality – Lived experience of early career professional women in construction
Increasing Women in Construction Using Public Procurement
The Australian construction industry remains one of the most male‐dominated sectors, with women comprising only 12.5% of the workforce and 3% of trades. In this context, policy plays a critical role in challenging entrenched gender norms, removing structural barriers, and promoting equitable access, participation, and progression for women and gender‐diverse individuals. Although gender workforce targets are widely used internationally to improve…
Political science (14 works) · Engineering (13 works) · Pedagogy (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Engineering ethics (9 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Sustainability in Higher Education (9 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Public relations (8 works) · Sustainability (8 works)