Rate My Professor Karen Lambert

Karen Lambert is an Associate Professor of Health and Physical Education in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, based on the Peninsula campus. She holds a PhD from the University of Wollongong, awarded in 2006 for research exploring the mutual constitution of sexual identity and place. Her career trajectory includes teaching positions as a health and physical education instructor, lecturer, and professional presenter at the University of Sydney, Ottawa University, and the University of Western Sydney. Lambert has developed a strong professional standing in Australia by investigating the implementation of pedagogical innovations tied to the Australian Curriculum across various teaching contexts.

Lambert's scholarly pursuits center on gender and sexualities studies, sense of place, qualitative research methods, poetic representation, critical theory, youth health, mental health and wellbeing, gender-based violence, embodiment and embodied pedagogies, health and physical education (HPE) and sport, HPE curriculum policy, and teaching pedagogies. As a queer poststructural feminist theorist and critical pedagogist, she aims to dismantle patriarchal influences in HPE and sport through intersectional research, pedagogy, and collaborative partnerships. She has been recognized with the 2022 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Social and Economic Impact, shared with colleagues, and the 2021 Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Award for Diversity and Inclusion, also shared. Her influential publications encompass "Curriculum interpretation and policy enactment in health and physical education: Researching teacher educators as policy actors" (Sport, Education and Society, 2020), "Re-conceptualizing embodied pedagogies in physical education by creating pre-text vignettes to trigger pleasure ‘in’ movement" (Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 2020), "Breaking and making curriculum from inside ‘policy storms’ in an Australian pre-service teacher education course" (The Curriculum Journal, 2018), "Girls on fire: alternative movement pedagogies to promote engagement of young women in physical activity" (Sport, Education and Society, 2018), and "Ethical bioprospecting and microbial assessments for sustainable solutions to the AMR crisis" (2025). Lambert advances field impact via projects such as "United on the Field: Enhancing equity and inclusion in community sport" and the Respectful Relationships Education Framework, promoting sustainable, equitable health and movement education.