Rate My Professor Julie Hawkins

Dr. Julie Hawkins is affiliated with the Department of Philosophy at the University of New England in Armidale, Australia, where she has served as a lecturer and Higher Degree by Research candidate. She holds an earlier Doctor of Philosophy in ecocriticism that put forward an approach to analysing ecological speculative fiction and pursued a subsequent doctoral degree at UNE researching aesthetics in philosophy and poetry of the West and East. This work in philosophy, poetry, and ecological speculative fiction approaches the question of whether and how our profound, ecological self is to be discovered in our innate, nondual nature. Prior to her doctoral studies, she earned a Bachelor's degree in Literature focusing on Science Fiction and Ecophilosophy from January 2010 to July 2013 and a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from November 2014 to June 2018.

Dr. Hawkins has contributed to scholarly discussions through presentations at university-hosted events and conferences. In 2019, at the University of New England's 'In the Making: A Symposium on Poetry and Poetics,' she presented 'Out of the Ordinary: An Aesthetic of the Profound in Zen Verses and Selected Romantic Poets,' exploring Zen writings and poetic extracts from Romantic poets such as Hölderlin, Clare, Blake, Byron, Coleridge, and Keats. The paper considers elements of paradox, surprise, or shock in nature-oriented poetry, how these disjunctive expressions challenge encounters with life, evoke awe through language, question everyday acceptance, and break through to a greater Reality amid uncertainties, in the context of an ecological self and practices like contemplating koans and poetry. That same year, at the 'Compassion, a timely feeling' symposium, she delivered 'An Approach to Resolving Our Ecological Dilemma: A Compassionate Metanoia.' As a doctorate candidate in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education, School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, she presented orally at the 2020 UNE Research Pathways Conference. Further contributions include 'How do Middle English texts depict humans in their environments?' at the 2022 Middle English Literary Environments event and 'COVID at the Zoo: Immunity, Property, and Critical Animal Studies' at the 2023 Coronavirus Pandemic Conference. In 2025, she published 'From Anthropause toward a More Ethical Whole-Earth Vision' in Ecocene, underscoring her influence in environmental philosophy and related fields.