Nicole Kalms

Nicole Kalms is Professor in the Department of Design and founding director of the Monash University XYX Lab which leads national and international research in Gender and Place. In this role, Dr Kalms is leading two significant research projects "Urban Exposure: Interactively Mapping the Systems of Sexual Violence in Cites" and "Women and Girls Only: Understanding the Spaces of Sexual Harassment in Public Transport". These projects are in partnerships with state, national and international stakeholders.

Nicole has a PhD in Architecture from Monash University. She obtained her Bachelor Degree in Architecture from RMIT and practiced architecture for several years before undertaking a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture (RMIT). Nicole is currently a full-time member of Monash University's Faculty Art, Design and Architecture where she is focused on cross-disciplinary teaching and research.

Professor Kalms’ recent contributions include the monograph "Hypersexual City: The Provocation of Soft-Core Urbanism" (Routledge 2017) examining sexualized representation and precincts in neoliberal cities. Other research includes 'Urban exposure: Feminist crowd-mapping and the new urban imaginary' in The Routledge Companion to Urban Imaginaries (2018) and ‘I’m Here’: Identity and Obscurity in Locative Safety Technology for Women in Neo-Liberal Cities' (2017) in the edited book series Critiques.

Her monograph "She City: Design out women's inequity in cities" (Bloomsbury 2023) she draws on interdisciplinary research from gender scholars, design practitioners, and feminist activists to update the significant research on gender and the city. Professor Kalms write regularly for a diverse non-academic audience and is frequently invited to speak to the public about sexuality and urban space at major national and international cultural institutions.