The Global Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Nikolina's work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

About Nikolina

POSITION

• UG History, Theory and Critical Context Stream Leader
• UG Architecture Marketing and Admissions Strategic Leader         
• Chair of the School of Art, Design and Architecture  Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI) Committee

BIOGRAPHY

Nikolina Bobic is an academic and an architect. She has extensive international experience teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels across history and theory, design, communications, and sociology in Australia (USYD, UNSW, UTS), Hong Kong (HKU Space), and the UK (UPlym). Bobic has also given lectures in the Netherlands (TU Delft) and New Zealand (UoA). She has supervised over 150 UG dissertations and 15 PGT dissertations. She is also a PhD supervisor. Nikolina is an approachable mentor and is passionate about constructively guiding the next generation of spatial practitioners.

Her research is preoccupied with political constructs of architecture and urban space. Within this domain and engaging with the two disciplines in which she is trained (architecture and sociology), she addresses the intersections of power, politics, human geography and space in their oppressive and liberatory mechanisms. Some of her key publications include: lead co-editor of the multidisciplinary The Routledge Handbook of Architecture, Urban Space and Politics, Vol I: Violence, Spectacle and Data (2022); and, The Routledge Handbook of Architecture, Urban Space and Politics, Vol II: Ecology, Social Participation and Marginalities (2024); co-editor of the peer-reviewed Interstices: A Journal of Architecture and Related Arts thematic issue 20 ‘Political Matters’ (December 2020); and author of Balkanization and Global Politics: Remaking Cities and Architecture (Routledge, 2019).

Nikolina is a sought after scholar and has been invited to give talks nationally and internationally, as well as co-organise conferences such as: Space I Control I Resistance - Deleuze and Guattari Studies (Belgrade, 2023) and Political Matters: Spatial Thinking of the Alternative (Auckland, 2019).

At present, Nikolina is working on several projects. Some of which include: the role of architecture at the nexus of defense, real estate, (semi)colonialism and waterfront re-developments; and the intersections of infrastructure, body, and aesthetics. She is also interested in pursuing her established practice-based/impact focused activities around waterfronts to capture research grants, as well as developing her EDI impact-based work on place and food (in)security.

Her industry experience stems from working in a well-esteemed and awarded residential practice in Sydney. 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.

In her spare time, she enjoys going to the gym, doing yoga, pilates, Muay Thai boxing and is sporadic with salsa. Nikolina takes pleasure in travelling and immersing herself in cultural experiences. Apart from English, she speaks and writes (Cyrillic and Latin) at native level Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian.

EDUCATION, AFFILIATIONS + PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• The University of Plymouth, UK, 2015.
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice / Fellow of Advance Higher Education Academy, UK (FHEA)
• The University of Sydney, Australia, 2014.
  • PhD - Doctor of Philosophy (Architecture)
• The University of New South Wales, Australia, 2006.
  • Bachelor of Architecture – Honours Class 1 (Part II Master of Architecture equivalent)
  • Bachelor of Arts – Major in Sociology
• New South Wales, Australia
  • Registered Architect (NSWARB 8077 - since 2008).

LEADERSHIP / SERVICES ROLES

• Chair of the School of Art, Design and Architecture Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Committee: 2022 - current
• Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Academic Offence Panel Member: 2020 - current.
• UG History, Theory and Critical Context Stream Leader: 2019 - current
• Subject (Architecture) Champion of the Equality, Diversity + Inclusivity Committee: 2019 - current.
• UG Architecture Marketing and Admissions Strategic Lead: 2018 - current.
• Member of/Reviewer for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Ethics Sub-committee: 2017 - current.
• UG/PG History, Theory and Critical Context Stream Leader: 2021-2022.
• UG/PG Architecture Marketing / Admissions Strategic Lead: 2020-2022.
• Athena Swan Bronze Award - Member of School of Art, Design and Architecture Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team: 2018.
• Editor-in-chief of the School's History, Theory and Critical Context Journal: 2015 - 2020
• Additional
  Panel member interviewing prospective new staff; internal reviewer for internal / external research grants; preparation for RIBA / Malaysia accreditation; preparation, delivery and presentation for annual External Examiner visits; PhD supervision; PhD RDC examination; contribution to the organization of Discourses Public Lecture Series.

• • Marjan Saberi - Behind Closed Doors: A Practice-led Inquiry into Women's Domesticity in Mashad (Iran), submission in 2025.
  • Livia Daza-Paris - Developing the practice of poetic forensics as an investigation of political disappearance reframed by Skinner Releasing and Indigenous knowledge; submitted in 2024, passed with corrections.
  • Julia Heurling – Exploring repetition and representation in pattern and sequence; submitted in 2024, passed with corrections.
  • PhD RDC Examinations
    • Justin Chung - Learning from Counter-Hegemonic Urban Practise: constructing a ‘socio-cultural and spatial framework’ inspired by the ephemeral night markets in Taiwan.
    • Ruth Potts - Activism as prefigurative politics: implications for cultivating experiences of political agency in everyday life.
   

FURTHER RESEARCH + INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT

IMPACT BASED RESEARCH / COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES

• Children’s University, Devon: 2020 – current
  • Participation in organisation / judging of various children’s drawing / making competitions around space and architecture. 
• Cook Kids Can Cook, (Plymouth, UK): November 2024
  • A co-creative EDI workshop with children aged 7–10 to explore the digital world of food and learn how to make healthy, sustainable choices.
• The Divisive Urban and Ecological Legacies along Belgrade’s Waterfront, Belgrade (Serbia): October 2022 – March 2023 
  • Working with several civic organisations, activists, and NGOs in Belgrade (Serbia) to understand the divisive urban and ecological legacies to do with the remaking of Belgrade’s Waterfront.
• From Field to Plate: Where does my Dinner come from?, Plymouth (UK): November 2022
  • Aimed at teaching primary school children (ages 7-9) about the links between healthy food, eating, and place. 
• Food for Thought, Plymouth (UK): October 2022
  • A week-long exhibition of student work across the School of Art, Design and Architecture that addressed issues of access to food / diversity. 

RESEARCH SUPPORT + RESEARCH GRANTS

• Internal
• School of Art, Design and Architecture, University of Plymouth, UK.

  • Research: 2015-current [£14,250]
  • Teaching Relief_Sem 2, 2024 [£6,500]
  • Partial Teaching relief for completion of The Routledge Handbook of Architecture, Urban Space and Politics, Vol II: Ecology, Social Participation and Marginalities_Sem 1, 2022 [£1,350]
  • ADA Teaching and Learning Research Grant: Women in Education + Employment: Westminster Forum Project, London_2018 [£615]
  • Partial Teaching Relief for completion of Balkanization and Global Politics_Sem 2, 2017 [£1,975]

  External
• UKRI Economic and Social Research Council [ESRC] Festival of Social Science, UK: 2024 [£1000]

  • Workshop / impact study: Cool Kids Can Cook

  The Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory (University of Belgrade, Serbia) & Faculty for Media and Communications (Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia): 2023 [£800]

  • Travel and accommodation: Space I Control I Resistance, 15^th International Deleuze and Guattari Studies conference co-convenor, July 2023.

  Arts & Humanities Research Council [AHRC] IAA Impact Initiation Fund, UK: 2022 [£5,010]

  • Workshop / impact study: The Divisive Urban and Ecologies legacies along Belgrade’s Waterfront.

  UKRI Economic and Social Research Council [ESRC] Festival of Social Science, UK: 2022 [£980]

  • Workshop / impact study: From Field to Plate – Where does my Dinner come From?

  The Institute for Danube Swabian History and Regional Studies, Tübingen, Germany: 2022 [£1,200]

  • Invited speaker - ‘(Trans)forming Belgrade’s Waterfront: Normalization of Rhetoric’ The City in Transition: Transformation Processes in Southeastern Europe since the 1980s, October 2022, Tübingen (Germany)

  Arts & Humanities Research Council [AHRC], UK: 2019 [£1,000]

  • ‘Changing the Story ECR Project Development Workshop Equal Opportunities.’ Remembering Differently: The Youth Opening Up History through Architecture and Film.

  School of Architecture and Planning, The University of Auckland, NZ: 2019 [NZ$1,100]

  • Political Matters International Conference Co-convenor

  Australian Postgraduate Award [APA] - Australian Federal Government: 2009-2013 [AU$78,000]

  • Support for PhD studies at the University of Sydney, Australia.

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

  • Conferences and Field Trip Research_2009-2013 [AU$2,500]
  • The University of Sydney Top-up Grant for PhD_2009-2013 [AU$20,000]
  • Green Desires: Rethinking Sustainability Research Project (led by Assoc. Prof. Glen Hill) _2010 [AU$2,000]

  Faculty of Built Environment, The University of New South Wales, Australia. 

  • U/G Entry Scholarship_1999 [$1,000]

INVITED TALKS / LECTURES

• Internal / Across Schools: University of Plymouth, UK

  School of Society and Culture (Department of Criminology): 2023.

  • Lecture: Violent Siege of Urban Space

  Decolonising research – Research Festival: 2021.

  • Talk: Moving borders: [Un]settling Knowledge

  School of Law, Criminology and Government (Department of Sociology): 2018.

  • Lecture: Gentrification and Marginalities: The Romani in Belgrade

  External

  The Institute for Danube Swabian History and Regional Studies Tübingen, Germany: 2022.

  • Talk / Presentation: (Trans)forming Belgrade’s Waterfront: Normalization of Rhetoric The City in Transition: Transformation Processes in Southeastern Europe since the 1980s

   School of Politics, Philosophy and Religion, Lancaster University, UK: 2021.

  • Lecture: Balkanization and Global Politics: Remaking cities and Architecture

  Faculty of Architecture and Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands: 2020.

  • Lecture: Ruins, Identity and Nation Building - Positions in Practice

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

  • Lecture: Power, Violence and the Urban

ROLES ON EXTERNAL BODIES / REVIEWER

• Conferences / Symposiums
  • SAHANZ, Australia/NZ; AHRA, UK; Temporal Formal as part of the ‘Expanded Architecture’ in Sydney, Australia.; ‘Space I Control I Resistance’ Deleuze and Guattari 2023 Conference, Belgrade, Serbia; Architecture and Film Symposium, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada.

• Journals

  • Architecture and Culture; Architecture Philosophy; Cubic Journal; Cultural Dynamics; Deleuze and Guattari Studies; Fabrications; Journal of Material Culture; Open House International; Serbian Architecture Journal (SAJ).  

• Research Grants / Research Fellowships / PhD Grant Applications
  • The Czech Science Foundation, Prague, Czech Republic_research grant_2023.
  • Christ’s College, University of Cambridge, UK_ research grant fellowship_2022.
  • National Science Center, Krakow, Poland_research grant fellowship_2021
  • The Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria_doctoral fellowship_2021.
  • ADA Teaching and Learning Grants, University of Plymouth, UK_internal research grant applications_2018.
•  Consultancy
  • Pearson, UK – Higher Education Advisory Panel Member:  2023
  • Invited as an academic and admissions expert in Architecture to join Higher Education (HE) Advisory Panel of Pearson to advise over 3 meetings on the content and assessment of their new BTEC (Business and Technology Education Council) Qualification for Construction.

Contact Nikolina

( Room 401, Roland Levinsky Building, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
+44 1752 585160
nikolina.bobic@plymouth.ac.uk