Impact Statement

As an emerging mid-career researcher, my work is conceptual, empirical and impact-oriented. My research program examines sustainable urban consumption across waste, food, packaging and plastics through the intersecting lenses of social practice theory, discard studies and the circular economy. Over the past six years, I have developed an interdisciplinary research agenda that bridges the social sciences with engineering, health, digital media and design, generating outcomes that have shaped policy, industry practice and public understanding of food, waste and sustainability.

My contributions have been recognised through two major awards in 2024: the prestigious RMIT Vice-Chancellor's Research Excellence Award for Engagement and Impact (ECR) and the RMIT College of Design and Social Context Research Excellence Award (ECR). Since 2019, I have secured more than $6.5 million in research funding, including my ARC DECRA (DE240100100), the $12 million ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for Transformation of Reclaimed Waste Resources to Engineered Materials and Solutions (TREMS), and the recent ARC Discovery Project (DP260104299) with Monash University.

Impact on policy, industry and practice

My research has translated into tangible policy, industry and public outcomes. My consumer fridge and food waste study for End Food Waste Australia (Middha et al. 2023) produced recommendations adopted and disseminated by organisations including Food & Drink Business and Meat & Livestock Australia. The findings were subsequently republished by more than 160 media outlets, including the New York Post, reaching an estimated audience of over 90 million people and demonstrating the translation of academic evidence into practical guidance for households and industry.

My 2024 The Conversation article on plastics was republished by Greenpeace and the Royal Geographical Society (UK), reaching a further 3.3 million readers. My media engagement during 2025 has exceeded three million people. Research from my apartment waste management program has also led to an ongoing collaboration with the social enterprise Reground (Middha et al. 2025), which is expected to inform Victorian Government (DEECA) design guidelines and regulatory review.

As a recognised expert in sustainable consumption, I was invited to deliver the keynote lecture, Why Are Australian Houses So Big?, at the National Gallery of Victoria's annual Architecture Commission program. My parliamentary submissions on food security, rental reform and climate change informed the final inquiry reports. Findings from my DECRA on single-use food packaging are also contributing to national policy discussions surrounding the National Waste Policy Action Plan and National Plastics Plan (Middha et al. 2025).

International Recognition and Collaboration

In 2025, I was awarded a competitive RMIT Europe Visiting Fellowship, supporting a 10-week research visit to Barcelona and a further visit to the University of Sheffield. These collaborations resulted in Horizon grant applications, an international conference session on plastic contamination at the RGS-IBG Annual Conference, and international PhD supervision through the DREAM+PLAN project.

Following my presentation at the Waste Matters Conference in Helsinki, I was invited to contribute to an international edited book on waste and to deliver a guest lecture in the University of Edinburgh's Knowledge Frontiers in the Circular Economy seminar series. As a recognised expert in waste and circular economy policy, I was also appointed to the United Nations Asia-Pacific Advisory Panel for the 10-Year 3Rs and Circular Economy Strategy (2024–2034), contributing to the development of regional policy recommendations.

Academic and interdisciplinary contributions

My research advances Social Practice Theory by integrating spatial and material perspectives to better explain how waste, contamination and health are produced through everyday life. I introduced the concepts of Selfoodie (Middha 2018) and e-gentrification (Middha & McShane 2022), which have been cited more than 55 times across international interdisciplinary scholarship. Urban planner Dr Benno Engels highlights my concept of e-gentrification in his forthcoming book on global urban gentrification as an important contribution to understanding digital inequalities.

My expertise has also been recognised through invitations to participate in the Institute for Sustainable Futures' international workshop of Australia's leading food and circular economy scholars and to contribute to invited panels at major conferences, including the RGS-IBG Annual Conference, the Social Practice Theory Consortium and the International Conference on Climate Change.

My interdisciplinary leadership spans major collaborative research programs, including the End Food Waste CRC's Meat Waste and Fridge Practices project and the $12 million ARC TREMS Hub. These collaborations have strengthened connections between the social sciences and STEM by incorporating systems of provision into understandings of household waste and by designing more equitable circular economy interventions that foreground the social dimensions of technological innovation.

I also co-lead RMIT's Food Practices and Cultures Impact Network, which connects researchers across food, health and sustainability. This initiative has generated an MRFF proposal on ageing and food (2025) and led to my co-editorship of a special issue of Health Sociology Review examining the intersections of health, food and Social Practice Theory.