Dr Jane Holden holds a cross-institute appointment as the Citarum Program Manager for Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI) and Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA).  MSDI and MADA are collaborating on co-designing a new research platform, and integrated action research projects, to address the contamination sources and damage to the Citarum River in West Java, Indonesia, one of the worlds “dirtiest” rivers.  This transdisciplinary research endeavour will gain a deeper understanding of the impact of environmental contamination on informal settlements in the river basin, and develop governance and technology-based pathways for enhancing well-being and liveability for vulnerable communities.

Jane works to build transdisciplinary coalitions of researchers, across Monash and partner Universities, local government and communities, to share knowledge and build capacity for transformative change. She achieves this by co-designing enabling environments for collaboration, cooperation and coordination between sectors and partners, and building an engagement agenda with clear aims and outcomes.  This approach has been applied to large, operationally complex research projects at Monash, including the “Urban Water Cluster” project (funded by the Australia Indonesia Centre), and the “Enhanced Crash Investigation Study (ECIS)” (funded by the Transport Accident Commission).  In total, Jane has project managed over $12m of transdisciplinary research funding at Monash and coordinated and contributed to research activity across Social Sciences, Architecture, Engineering, Business & Economics, Sustainable Development and Accident Research.

Before moving to Monash, Jane gained 20 years’ experience working in several strategic and program management roles, for the mining, power generation and aviation industries.  In these roles, Jane worked to understand the factors impacting organisational performance and collaborate with a broad range of stakeholders to address these factors.  Transformation strategies were centred around creating high performing teams and organisational structures, use of technology for enhancing productivity and performance monitoring, as well as redefining systems, processes and operating frameworks.

Living in SE Asia for 7 years and working with NGOs has given Jane has a deep understanding of the cultural, social and economic complexity of transitioning vulnerable communities towards more sustainable and liveable futures.  Jane has a specific interest in how social businesses can operate within a capitalist economy, and provide opportunities for communities to access the global marketplace. In cofounding a social enterprise in 2009, Jane gained practical insights into the fair trade industry, and the challenges facing home industries in providing income security for local artisans (mainly women). 

Jane has a PhD (1995) in Physics and a Masters’ in Business Administration (2004) majoring in Organisational Change and Strategic Management, both from Monash University.