MA Martin Abbott is a Research Fellow in the School of Sociology at the Australian National University. His work contributes to sociological inquiry across the fields of science and technology studies, urban studies, and the environmental humanities.
Martin uses ethnographic methods to explore how technology mediates human-environmental relations. He studies these hybrid relationships at the intersection of contemporary cities and futures shaped by climate uncertainty and social inequity. This research spans four domains: 1) the politics and practices of artificial cooling, particularly in relation to air conditioning and food; 2) flood risk management in New Orleans and the digital transformation of the United States National Flood Insurance Program; 3) the confluence of mega-events, film and media, community memory, and resistance to urban development in the build up to the Brisbane 2032 Olympics; and 4) critical engagement with the life sciences to examine plant-people and animal-human relations. Across these domains, his overarching goal is to build just futures that can be places of possibility for both people and the more-than-human world.
Martin holds a PhD in Science and Technology Studies from Cornell University, where his studies were supported by the John Crampton Fellowship. He also holds an MA in Politics from Sciences Po Paris and a Master of Architecture from the University of Technology Sydney.