Ellie Drenth
Email: e.drenth@student.unsw.edu.au
Supervisors: Daniel Robinson, Joyce Wu
Ellie Drenth is an MPhil candidate at UNSW Sydney researching gender, climate mobility, and Pacific justice. She holds a Master of Environmental Management from UNSW and a Bachelor of Environmental Science. Ellie currently works in Pacific renewable energy development, coordinating a large-scale DFAT-funded program across 13 Pacific Island countries. Her career has taken her across local government, international NGOs, and into the field, including an embedded role within a national ministry in Cambodia as a climate change mentor. She was recognised as a Young Australian in International Affairs Young Woman to Watch in 2026. Outside her professional work, Ellie volunteers with the World Food Forum's youth programs and sits on the Youth Advisory Board of the Climate and Health Alliance of Australia. She is passionate about bridging policy, practice, and community voice - particularly at the intersection of gender and climate.
- Research area
- Research outputs
Ellie's research examines how Australia's climate mobility policies shape gendered justice in Pacific relocation processes, with a focus on women's agency, rights, and cultural continuity. Her thesis, Gender, Justice, and Mobility: Examining Australia's Role in Pacific Climate Relocation, critically analyses frameworks such as the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union through the lenses of climate justice, feminist political ecology, and postcolonial critique.
Key research areas:
- Gendered dimensions of climate relocation
- Feminist political ecology
- Postcolonial climate governance
- Australian foreign and climate policy in the Pacific
- Climate adaptation and resilience
- Pacific climate justice and climate mobility