Dr Nikolina Bobic

Position

Chair of the ADA Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity

UG/PG History, Theory and Critical Context Stream Leader

Biography

Nikolina Bobic is an academic and an architect. After completing her PhD in Architecture at the University of Sydney (Australia), she moved to the UK and is now based at the University of Plymouth. Apart from her extensive experience in teaching in Australia, Hong Kong and the UK, Bobic has also given lectures in the Netherlands and New Zealand. Engaging with the two disciplines in which she is trained, architecture and sociology, her research addresses the intersections of power, politics, and space in their oppressive and liberatory mechanisms. Within this domain, she investigates the ways in which urban space and architecture are oppressed by, struggle against, operate within, or are constructed by politics. Likewise, the ways through which urban space and architecture can be transformed, as well as the kinds of transformations they can enact and construct alternatives. At a more specific level she has written on balkanization (geopolitical and urban fragmentation/decentralization), identity construction, and urban destruction spurred by violence/war; how these notions manifest at the complex intersection of urbanism, architecture, media, economics, technology, literature and film.

At present, Nikolina is the co-editor of the multidisciplinaryThe Routledge Handbook of Architecture, Urban Space and Politics, Vol I: Violence, Spectacle and Data (Nov, 2022); and, The Routledge Handbook of Architecture, Urban Space and Politics, Vol II: Ecology, Social Participation and Marginalities (forthcoming 2023). She is also supporting the organisation of the 2023 international and multidisciplinary Deleuze and Guattari Studies conference and camp in Belgrade (Serbia) which is focused on Space I Control I Resistance. Bobic is the co-editor of the recently published peer-reviewed Interstices: A Journal of Architecture and Related Arts thematic issue 20 'Political Matters' (December 2020). Her authored Balkanization and Global Politics: Remaking Cities and Architecture was published in 2019 by Routledge. In the same year, she co-convened the international and multidisciplinary conference Political Matters: Spatial Thinking of the Alternative in Auckland, NZ.

Nikolina has been invited to give talks nationally and internationally. She has supervised over 80 UG dissertations nationally and internationally, 15 PGT dissertations as well as engaged in PhD supervision. Her industry experience is in residential architecture. The predominant concentration while working as an architect in Australia was on exploring and exploiting the interface between internal and external spaces, the means by which were addressed through materiality and a close consideration of the context.

Other academic roles

: Chair of the ADA Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity: 2022 - current

: Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Academic Offence Panel Member: 2020 - current.

: Subject (Architecture) Champion of the Equality, Diversity + Inclusivity Committee: 2019 - current.

: BA (Hons) Architecture Admissions Tutor: 2018 - current.

: Member of/Reviewer for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Ethics Sub-committee: 2017 - current.

Panel member interviewing prospective new staff; internal reviewer for internal / external research grants; preparation for RIBA accreditation; preparation, delivery and presentation for annual External Examiner visits; PhD supervision; PhD RDC examination; contribution to the organization of Discourses Public Lecture Series.

Education + Qualifications

: Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice / Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK (FHEA)

The University of Plymouth, UK, 2015.   

: PhD - Doctor of Philosophy (Architecture)

The University of Sydney, Australia, 2014

: Bachelor of Architecture – Honours Class 1 (Part 2 equivalent)

Bachelor of Arts – Major in Sociology

The University of New South Wales, Australia, 2006.           

: Registered Architect, New South Wales, Australia - since 2008 (NSWARB 8077).

: Politics, power, and space.

: Balkanism, balkanization (decentralization), borders.

: Urbicide, violence, war.

: (Post)conflict.

: Urban and architectural re-construction.

: Humanitarianism and human rights.

: Alternatives practices and systems.

Awards & Funding   

Internal

: Conferences and Field Trip Research

School of Art, Design and Architecture, University of Plymouth, 2015-current.

: Political Matters International Conference Co-convenor

School of Art, Design and Architecture, University of Plymouth, 2019.

: Women in Education + Employment: Westminster Forum Project [London]

ADA Teaching and Learning Research Grant

School of Art, Design and Architecture, University of Plymouth, 2018.

: Teaching Relief for completion of Balkanization and Global Politics

School of Art, Design and Architecture, University of Plymouth, 2017.

: Conferences and Field Trip Research

Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning. The University of Sydney, Australia, 2009-2013.

: The University of Sydney Top-up Grant

Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning. The University of Sydney, Australia, 2009-2013.

: Green Desires: Rethinking Sustainability Research Project

Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning. The University of Sydney, led by Dr Glen Hill, 2010.

: The University of New South Wales U/G Entry Scholarship

Faculty of the Built Environment, The University of New South Wales, 1999.

External

: Australian Postgraduate Award (APA)

Support for PhD studies at the University of Sydney, 2009-2013.

: Remembering Differently: The Youth Opening Up History through Architecture and Film

AHRC Changing the Story ECR Project Development Workshop Equal Opportunities, 2019 (led by Professor Paul Cooke at the University of Leeds).

: Political Matters International Conference Co-convenor

School of Architecture and Planning, The University of Auckland, NZ, 2019.

Unsuccessful Research Grants

: DE:COLONISE (Difference and Equity: Co-creative Learning Opportunities, Networks for Inclusion, Shared Education)

Arts & Humanities Research Council international project “Changing The Story: Building Inclusive Civil Societies With, and For, Young People”, led by Professor Paul Cooke at the University of Leeds, 2019.

: Challenges of Balkanization, Humanitarianism and Human Rights: Urban Resilience through Community Initiatives

British Academy, The Humanities and Social Sciences Tackling the UK’s International Challenges, 2018.

: Urban balkanization within and beyond the Balkans

Urban Studies Foundation Seminar Series, 2018.

Professional Experience    

: Pioneer Lab, Wollongong: 2009

: Virginia Kerridge Architect (VKA), Sydney: 2004-2008

Project Architect:      

New 3 storey House in Bondi (2004 – 08); Alteration/Addition to a Heritage Terrace in Elizabeth Bay (2006 – 08); Alteration/Addition to a House in Bronte Beach (06 – 08).

Assistant Architect:      

Alteration/ Addition to a House in Bronte (2005 – 08); New House in Kingscliff (2006 – 08); New Cottage and Farmhouse in Hunter Valley (2007 – 08); Alteration / Addition to a House in Coogee (2006 – 07); New House in Bronte (2005 – 06); Alteration /Addition to Kerridge House + Apartment (2004).

Membership

: European Architectural History Network (EAHN).

: Architectural Humanities Research Association (AHRA).

: Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ).

: New South Wales Architects Registration Board (NSWARB).

: Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers (RGS-IBG).

Teaching interests

Teaching 

Since 2014, my teaching experience is encompassing of: