Sabrina Chakori

Dr Sabrina Chakori is a researcher, educator, policy advisor and multi-award-winning social entrepreneur working to enable sustainability transitions.

She is a Chancellor's Research Fellow at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney and Honorary Lecturer at The University of Sydney. Her interdisciplinary research examines the governance of sustainability transitions, with a particular focus on exnovation - the deliberate phasing out of unsustainable technologies, practices, and systems - as a necessary counterpart to innovation. Her interests span ecological economics, post-growth transitions, industrial policy and social entrepreneurship.

Sabrina holds a BSc. in Biology (University of Geneva, Switzerland) and a MSc. in Environmental Management (The University of Queensland). Previously, she explored sustainability transitions through her trans- and inter- disciplinary PhD research at The University of Queensland, and her postdoctoral research at CSIRO (Australia’s National Science Agency). As a Research Fellow at The University of Sydney (Leeder Centre for Health Policy, Economics and Data), Sabrina worked on ethical and sovereign AI for policymakers and on Complex Adaptive Policy Systems (Sydney Policy Lab). Additionally, Sabrina has served as course coordinator and lecturer at The University of Queensland, teaching circular economy, social entrepreneurship, system dynamics and food systems sustainability subjects. She is also the co-founding editor of the Degrowth Journal (2020), an academic journal that explores degrowth, embraces slow science and advances the decommodification of knowledge.

For over 17 years, Sabrina has been working towards a more sustainable society leading numerous collaborations in various countries, including an initiative with Queensland’s Environment Minister to introduce the law banning single-use plastic bags. To translate her circular and degrowth knowledge into practice, in 2017, she also founded the Brisbane Tool Library. Her work led to several recognitions, including the WasteSmart Brisbane City Council Award (2023), Create Change: 7News Young Achiever Award (QLD, 2020) and the Emerging Female Leader bursary from the National Council of Women of Queensland (2020). In 2025, Sabrina was named a Highly Commended recipient of the Judges' Award at the Queensland Women in STEM Awards.