We are pleased to announce that Lara Brown has joined us as AURIN’s Outreach and Communications Manager. Lara will lead the Outreach and Communications Team in connecting with researchers and academics to understand their research needs, enabling us to expand and improve our research infrastructure. Lara and her team will help implement recommendations made in the 2019-23 AURIN Strategic Plan.
“It’s impressive what AURIN and its collaborators have achieved over the last ten years in terms of research results. It’s even more exciting what AURIN has on the horizon. I’m especially excited about the projects we will be undertaking over the coming months and years involving new technologies, such as digital twins, AI, and real-time data streams, which will empower researchers to solve complex urban and social problems,” says Lara.
Lara joins AURIN as a recent graduate of the University of Melbourne, where she earned a Master of Urban Planning. She was the 2020 SGS Economics and Planning Graham Larcombe Scholarship recipient, which recognizes urban planning students interested in advancing social justice. She served as research assistant to Dr. Anna Hürlimann at the University of Melbourne, examining the extent to which the topic of climate change is embedded in the core curriculum of PIA-accredited Urban Planning courses in Australia. While an intern at Tract Consultants, Lara worked collaboratively using evidence-based research to develop and refine indicators, benchmarks, and a rating system for healthy communities in master planned greenfield environments. Her master’s thesis involved qualitative research on how carers of disabled people experience third places.
Lara brings 20 years’ experience in marketing and communications, having served as the communications director for the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and more recently as an associate editor for Architecture Australia. She has bylines in Chicago Architect, ArchitectureAU, The Chicago Tribune’s RedEye, and Sächsiche Zeitung in Dresden. Lara contributed to promoting a socially just urban environment through her work with non-profit organization Architects for Peace as a public officer and management committee member.
If you would like to discuss your research needs or have questions about AURIN’s data sets, or AURIN’s data analysis or visualization tools, please get in touch with Lara at lara.brown@unimelb.edu.au.