Explore how recent UNSW PhD graduate Dr. Gretchen Miller enabled聽environmentally-concerned citizens to tell their inspiring stories about rescuing their 鈥榟ome ground鈥 and its animal inhabitants in a time of environmental crisis.
The overview
The Rescue Project, which won the 2022 UNSW Faculty Award for The Best Doctoral Thesis and the 2022 Dean鈥檚 Award for Outstanding Thesis, considers how people, in a time of environmental crisis, gather courage and come together to rescue animals and their natural habitats.聽Using a publicly accessible website to gather stories from rescuers - our citizen storytellers - the project has resulted in a podcast series titled聽. These four podcasts immerse listeners in the 鈥榟ome ground鈥 of the storytellers, communicating their inspiring accounts of environmental rescue to spark hope and to motivate others to build a more regenerative world.
Website
Research duration
January 2018 - December 2021
Lead researcher
Gretchen Miller
UNSW PhD candidate
Funding partner
Landcare Australia
Research area
Environment & Society
鈥淭he Rescue Project seeks to understand how we can communicate environmental crisis in a way which inspires hope and courage.鈥
- Gretchen Miller, UNSW PhD candidate
Featured podcasts
The solution
The Rescue Project is a brilliant demonstration of how the modern format of podcasting and audio design can be used to tell stories of hope, courage and individual and democratic action. Ultimately, it hopes to inspire listeners to take their own action to care for their surrounding environment. Tema Milstein, Associate Professor of Environment & Society, was Dr. Miller鈥檚 supervisor for her PhD.
鈥淚t sounds amazing - love the bird calls and flapping wings in amongst the local voices - The Rescue Project captures the essence of Landcare so well.鈥
- James Link, Head Corporate Partnerships, Landcare Australia
The outcomes
- Released podcast The Rescue Project 鈥 2,300 listens (at time of publication - October 2019)
- Publicly available citizen storytelling website: 50+ stories uploaded and 6,000 story views
- Broadcast on ABC Local (Far North Queensland) with audience figures around 50,000. Broadcast on MainFM (Victoria) audience 3-4,000
- Broadcast on various community stations nationally
- Short stories broadcast on ABC RN (Life Matters and The Science Show) and on ABC Port Macquarie
- Released as podcast episodes on the Climactic Podcast聽
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Contact us
Faculty Research Office
Research Hub, Level聽1聽
John Goodsell Building
鲍狈厂奥听Sydney NSW 2052
贰尘补颈濒:听fass.fro@unsw.edu.au
HDR Research Office
Research Hub, Level聽1聽
John Goodsell Building
鲍狈厂奥听Sydney NSW 2052