EM/ProfJames Goodman

James Goodman conducts research into global politics, socio-cultural change and climate justice. He is a Professor in Social and Political Sciences at the Faculty of Design and Society at UTS (FASS) where he has been based since 1996. He draws from a disciplinary background in political sociology, international relations, political economy and political geography, and has led several large collaborative research projects.

He has published six authored or co-authored books, and nine edited or coedited books, and has supervised 22 doctoral students, mainly in the area of climate change, NGOs and international politics. He has coordinated a range of sociology and politics subjects, most recently in politics and ideologies and in climate justice and climate policy. He has led three Australian Research Council Discovery projects and a project investigating the future of academic work funded by the Federal Department of Education. 

He has initiated and led two interdisciplinary research centres. In 2006 he was one of the three co-founders of the Research Centre in Cosmopolitan Civil Societies, and he remains editor of the CCS Journal. In 2017, with seven other academics, he initiated the Climate Justice Research Centre. The Centre developed research projects focusing on the relationship between climate change and social justice, in terms of impacts, technologies and advocacy. In 2023 it was combined into the larrger 'Climate Society and Environment Research Centre' (C-SERC). 

At UTS he has had various roles - in research centres and also as convenor for the Social and Political Sciences Program and deputy for the School of Communication. As school head in 2025, in the context of a wave of sector cuts, he helped UTS retain programs in Education and International Studies. He is a strong advocate for public universities, and for the rights of university workers and students. From 2026 he has been an honorary Emeritus Professor at UTS.