School of Science

Dr Nicola Lockhart

Dr Nicola Lockhart is a lecturer in the School of Science.

Current Teaching

• SCY2109.3 Surveillance Systems
• SCY1108.3 Building Management Systems
• SCY2107 Threat Detection Systems
• SCY3508 Extremism and Political Radicalisation
• SCY2212 Security Risk
• SCY2112 Counterterrorism

Background

Dr Nicola Lockhart is a Lecturer in the School of Science at Edith Cowan University and has been teaching into the Security Science degree pathway since 2016. She completed her PhD in Security Risk in December 2025. Her doctoral research examined the organisational influence of corporate security, with particular emphasis on the mechanisms, barriers, and degree of influence through which security risk functions shape organisational decision-making, priorities, and outcomes.

Nicola brings more than 15 years of professional experience across government security, facility management, and high-risk operational environments, including work within complex and high-consequence government agencies and responsibility for high-profile, high-security facilities. Her professional background spans intelligence, regulatory, operational, and governance contexts, providing direct exposure to the legal, political, and organisational constraints under which security decisions are made. Holding a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) (Hons), she brings a strong legal lens to her teaching and research, particularly in relation to legislative authority, accountability, proportionality, and the regulation of security practice.

This combined legal and operational experience strongly informs Nicola’s academic work, particularly in areas relating to the governance and lawful deployment of surveillance, threat detection, and protective security systems within complex institutional environments, including the interpretation and application of legislation, the development of policy and regulatory instruments, and the drafting and evaluation of formal legal and security documentation.

Her teaching approach emphasises analytical rigour, academic integrity, authentic assessment and the integration of theory with real-world security practice, with particular focus on contested risk, extremism, surveillance, and emerging technologies.

Professional Memberships

• 2020 – ASIS International, WA Chapter (Committee Member)

Professional and Editorial Roles

• Non-Executive Member, ASIS Foundation Research Committee
• Book Review Editor, Security Journal
• Committee Member, ASIS International (WA Chapter)
• Women in Security Champion, ASIS International

Research Areas and Interests

• The role, influence, and professionalisation of corporate and institutional security functions
• Extremism, radicalisation, and ideological violence in contemporary security environments
• Legal frameworks governing counter-extremism, terrorism, and hate-based offences
• Surveillance, threat detection, and protective security systems
• Privacy, proportionality, and legal accountability in security system design and deployment
• Security risk management within organisational and enterprise risk governance
• Cyber–physical convergence and its implications for physical security and threat detection
• The impact of artificial intelligence on surveillance, access control, and detection technologies
• Academic integrity, generative AI, and assessment design in security and criminology education
• Pedagogical challenges in teaching extremism, violence, and contested security topics

Qualifications

• Managing Safely, United Kingdom, 2013.
• BIIAB Level 2 National Cert for Door Supervisors, United Kingdom, 2009.
• Level 2 Cert for Security Guards, United Kingdom, 2009.
• Level 3 Award Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Sector, United Kingdom, 2009.
• Level 3 Cert Conflict Management Training, United Kingdom, 2009.
• LLB, United Kingdom, 2005.

Research Outputs

Research Projects

• Security 2030: A Five-Year Future Report on the Australian Private Security Industry, Australian Security Industry Association, Grant, 2025 ‑ 2026, $49,974.
• Application and Influence of Security Risk Management (SRM): Informing the Security Professional in Achieving Risk Influence, ASIS International, ASIS - Grant, 2022 ‑ 2023, $53,631.