Dr Patrice Braun -- Professor

Position

Adjunct Professor, UB Collaborative Research Network 

Qualifications

PhD University of Ballarat; Masters by Research, James Cook University; Graduate Certificate of Education (Tertiary Education) UB;

Patrice's Research Output

Research Profile

Dr Patrice Braun is Adjunct Professor with the University of Ballarat Collaborative Research Network (http://crnballarat.com) which has a focus on resilient regions. Patrice helped establish CRIC, holding the position of Deputy Director before taking on the Directorship (2011-2012). Prior to joining UB, Patrice held positions at  Swinburne University of Technology and James Cook University as Educational Development Adviser/ Instructional Designer of flexible learning solutions for academia and industry. 

Patrice's work focuses on sustainable community and enterprise development in a regional context, working with public and private interests that promote the resilience and sustainability of regions. She is also spearheading the development of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Women & Technology, one of ten globally networked not-for-profit centres to empower and mainstream women in the knowledge economy.  Her aspiration is to assist girls, women and their communities to develop to their full potential, using technology, networks and entrepreneurship to achieve economic empowerment and social change. 

Patrice developed an interest in the use of ICT for Development (ICTD) doing a Masters by Research (1997) on the use of the Internet for community informatics. She pursued this theme in her PhD (2003) on ICT-enabled regional network innovation. In 2004 Patrice became the Australian Focal Point for a 5-year APEC-wide research program on Women's Participation in the Digital Economy. This fuelled her interest in the use of ICT and entrepreneurship as enablers to empower women, particularly rural and disadvantaged women.  An action researcher, Patrice's research and consultancy philosophy is to work with rather than on people to achieve engagement, collaborative learning and action-oriented outcomes. A a global citizen with a strong social responsibility, Patrice's scholarship is underpinned by holistic thinking and includes collaborative, green and social entrepreneurship models for both developed and developing economies.

In 2010, Patrice was awarded a Federal Government Endeavour Research Fellow Award to conduct ICT for Development (ICTD) research in rural Bangladesh and Peru. Her study explored how women can be engaged and empowered with the help of ICT to address challenges in areas such agriculture, collaborative business development and entrepreneurship as the basis for sustainable livelihoods for women, their families and communities.  Click here for more information on this prestigious achievement.

Consulting:

Dr Braun's expertise includes the implementation of changing business paradigms through action research methodologies and the weaving of technology with sustainable economic, social, environmental, and governance practices towards building equity, viability and innovation in regional settings. Much of her work has a focus on ICT and entrepreneurship as tools for women's economic empowerment and social change. 

Patrice draws on extensive local-global networks. She collaborates with government, non-profits and industry both in Australia and abroad on women's and green entrepreneurship, gender and value chain development, policy, network and collaboration strategies, and knowledge economy skills development.  She is the Research Chair for the Australian Women Chamber of Commerce (AWCCI); an active contributor to APEC and other international forums; on the Steering Committee of the International Taskforce for Women and Technology; a regional champion for the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (UNGAID), and on the Advisory Board of the Latin American Centre for Women & Technology. 

Research Output:

Patrice's Research Output

E-mail Address:

p.braun@ballarat.edu.au

Phone Numbers:

+613 53279465; +61418440611 (mobile)

Fax Number:

+613 5327 9055