Professor Kirsten Martinus

Kirsten Martinus is Professor of Human Geography at The University of Western Australia (UWA) and Director of UWA’s Future Regions Lab, a think tank delivering evidence-based, applied research for strategic decision-making and policy across Australia and the Asia-Pacific. She has previously worked in the United States, Indonesia, and Japan as a business consultant and interpreter. Her expertise spans critical minerals and supply chain security; geo-economic security and resource distribution; regional resilience and infrastructure policy; industry strategy for national security; and geopolitics of energy and innovation.  

Kirsten currently holds multiple senior leadership roles across Australia and internationally. She is Chair of the Australian Academy of Science’s National Committee for Geographical Sciences, serves on the editorial boards of four leading international academic journals, and is National Co‑Convener of the Institute of Australian Geographers Economic Geography Study Group. She has received numerous highly competitive awards and research funding grants, published extensively in top-ranked international journals, collaborated widely on industry-led projects, and presented at major industry and academic forums, including global energy and minerals events in Australia and Japan.  

Kirsten holds a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) from UWA (1992), has a national accreditation as a Japanese–English interpreter and completed her PhD at Curtin University in 2012.