A Special Faculty Career and Action Planning Session on October 16th from 11:30-1pm from Dr. Pernille H. Christensen, a Clemson Alumni and a Faculty member of Design, Architecture and Building at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Pernille is a multidisciplinary researcher with an interest in urban sustainability and resilience. Her research is currently focused on strategies for improving community resilience to social and environmental disruptions with the aim of creating safe, secure, accessible, and resilient cities. She has also had substantial training and experience in faculty research and career planning and has held sessions to help faculty plan, optimize and dream about their career pipeline.
Join the Office of Faculty ADVANCEment on October 16th from 11:30 am – 1pm in Cooper Library room 416 for this planning session. Please RSVP here to reserve your seat here .
5-Year Career and Action Planning – What is it, why you should do it, and where to start?
Why and how are some academics super productive and how do they do it? The answer, in part, lies in developing a clear vision for who you want to be as an academic and developing a clear plan of action to get there. This presentation will guide you through the steps to developing clear aims, goals and commitments to action, and we will discuss the research impact pathways to understand how individual and institutional resources or inputs (e.g. research support or teaching centers) links with research activities, outputs and outcomes, and creates benefits and impacts for you, the institution and society. Dr. Christensen will also share insights and planning tips from her own five-year research plan and discuss key that impacted the plan how it all comes together. Whether you are a brand new academic or a seasoned academic – you are sure to find some nuggets to help boost your career trajectory.
Pernille has an extensive publication record, including 70 peer-reviewed journal articles, she is regional editor of the top-tier Smart and Sustainable Built Environment journal and was formerly the co-editor of the Journal of Sustainable Real Estate. Pernille’s early research made important contributions to the green building sector and includes the development of robust quantitative instruments to inform a new green building scoring instrument and has also led (2016) and contributed (2020) to two City of Sydney, Australia Innovation Grant research projects. Pernille has been an invited speaker at major events in the security and social disruption space, including the 2022 ASIS International Annual Conference; the 2021 Security | Integrate Expo in Sydney, the internationally renowned World Counter Terrorism Congress at the Security and Counter Terrorism Expo (SCTX) 2019 in London, the Public Venue & Soft Target Security Summit (2017), which she co-chaired; and the SIPRI Stockholm Security Conference (2016). In addition to many other professional accomplishments is releasing her second book in late 2025/early 2026.
BIO
Dr. Christensen is the Course Director for the Bachelor of Property Economics program within the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), ranked 9th in Australia and 88th in the world in the QS World University Rankings 2025 and 13th in the world and 5th in Australia for overall contributions to Sustainable Development. Pernille is a multidisciplinary researcher with an interest in urban sustainability and resilience. Her research is currently focused on strategies for improving community resilience to social and environmental disruptions with the aim of creating safe, secure, accessible, and resilient cities.
She currently collaborates with researchers around the world on projects investigating various aspects of built environment sustainability and resilience and has received over US$440,000 in grant funding to support her research. Currently, Pernille is mapping the application of urban resilience theory in the engagement and strategy development process for the Resilient Sydney Strategy. She is also leading the development of best practice-informed guidelines for the NSW Reconstruction Authority Disaster Adaptation Planning Stakeholder Engagement Process. Pernille has also contributed to several major international projects focused on protective security measures for crowded urban spaces. Currently, she is working with international collaborators in the UK and Australia investigating inclusive protective security to develop federal-level guidelines for implementation of protective security. Another multi-institution partnership with colleagues in the US and UK focused on protective security measures for crowded urban spaces. This work informed the independent review of London’s readiness for attack and the work was cited in justification of the adopted recommendations. Pernille also led a multi-University research team in the development of an integrated project delivery and operations framework for crowded places and infrastructure in NSW. The project proposed an integrated threat, vulnerability, and risk assessment more effectively into the planning, development and delivery of public urban spaces and state infrastructure projects.
Pernille’s earlier work made an important contribution to the green building sector and includes the development of robust quantitative instruments to inform a new green building scoring instrument (2014, funded by the CBRE Real Green Research Challenge). Pernille has also led (2016) and contributed (2020) to two City of Sydney Innovation Grant research projects – the first developed a best practice guide for end-of-trip-facilities in CBD office buildings, and the second aimed to reduce energy consumption in office buildings through 2-way feedback of occupancy comfort and building performance using portable sensor technologies. Her doctoral research (2013, Clemson University, USA) supported the development of a decision-making and assessment framework for sustainable commercial real estate. She has also received funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Land Economics Foundation, the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation NRCC, the Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy, Urban Growth NSW, and the NSW Department of Education and Training, among others.
Pernille has been an invited speaker at major events in the security and social disruption space, including the 2022 ASIS International Annual Conference; the 2021 Security | Integrate Expo in Sydney, the largest security conference in the Southern hemisphere; the internationally renowned World Counter Terrorism Congress at the Security and Counter Terrorism Expo (SCTX) 2019 in London, which brings together global experts on counter-terror strategy, operations and policy; the industry-leading ANZ Disaster & Emergency Management Conference (2018), where she spoke about integrating climate change adaptation into disaster risk reduction efforts; the Public Venue & Soft Target Security Summit (2017), which she co-chaired; and the SIPRI Stockholm Security Conference (2016).
Pernille has an extensive publication record, including 70 peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers, book chapters and government reports. She is a regional editor of the top-tier Smart and Sustainable Built Environment journal, ranked by Scopus as the #2, #6 and #14 journal in Architecture, Cultural Studies, and Urban Studies, respectively. She was formerly the co-editor of the Journal of Sustainable Real Estate and is a regular reviewer for other journals in her field. Her first co-edited book, Developing Property Sustainably, was released in July 2015, her second is due to be released in late 2025/early 2026.
