Dr Tara B.M. Smith

Dr Tara B.M. Smith is an interdisciplinary researcher in religion, popular culture and space. In exploring representations of the world, she focuses on a range of media, with a strong focus on science fiction. Currently, Tara is working at the Leverhulme Centre of Humanity and Space on her project To the Moon and Back will use science fiction media to support education about space amongst young people and develop methods to promote communal living in diverse astronaut groups. Her previous postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University (2024) Blood for the Blood God!, explored the religious aspects of Warhammer 40,000 lore and demonstrated how painting miniatures can support positive mental health. Tara completed her PhD, The Praxis of Science Fiction: Pedagogies for Social Change, at the University of Sydney, Australia (2022). Tara is the Project Manager of the Korean Institute for Astronauts (KIFA) where she supports a diverse team of academics researching the future of space travel. Outside of academia, she can be found exploring thrift stores and mudlarking with her husband Luke in the Midlands or reading fantasy novels at home with her two cats Thomas O’Malley and Momo. 

2025 April - 2025 Dec      Research Assistant, Eco-Justice and Eco-Grievances, International Studies and Political Science, The University of Sydney, Australia

2025-Present   Project Manager and Founding Member of the Korean Institute for Astronauts, Korea                       

2025-2022       Co-principal investigator, “Mental Sustainability of Long-Term Astronauts: Martian Scientific Odyssey and Astronautical Religion in Space Exploration” Kookmin University, Korea and Australian National University                 

2023-2024       Postdoctoral Fellowship in Spirituality and the Arts, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard, MA, The United States

Books

2025   Smith, Tara B. M. New Religious Movements as Expressed in Science Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, expected publication 2026.

2025   Smith, Tara B. M. The Practice of Science Fiction: Assessing Pedagogies for Social Change. In the series Constructing Knowledge: Curriculum Studies in Action. Leiden: Brill, expected publication 2026.

Refereed Journal Articles

2025    Smith, Tara B. M. Smith. “Cognitive Estrangement and the Mediation of Awe in Science Fiction”, Special Issue Zygon forthcoming 2026.

2025    Smith, Tara B. M. Smith. “Administered Dehumanisation: Absurdity, Automation, and Resistance in We, Brazil, and Robodebt”. ZeMKI Working Paper, expeted publication 2025.

2025    Smith, Tara B. M. “Drowning in the Pacific: Climate Change, the Apocalypse and the Future of Australia”. Literature and Aesthetics, 34 no. 3 (2025): 84-96.

2025    Smith, Tara B. M. “Miniature Mindfulness: Finding Spiritual Flow with Warhammer 40,000 Figurines”. Religions, 16.2 (2025): 1-20.

2024    Smith, Tara B. M. “The Ox’s Tail: Reading Frank Herbert’s Dune as a Zen Buddhist Koan” in Journal for the Academic Studies in Religion. Special issue on (Non)Religion, Spirituality and Ecological Politics, 37.3 (2024): 320-238.

2024      Smith, Tara B. M. “Blood for the Blood God!” - Engaging with Gods and Religion in the Warhammer 40K Universe””. Emerging Voices in the Field, Gamenvironments no. 20 (2024).

2021        Smith, Tara B. M. “The Anthropocene in Frank Herbert’s Dune Series”, Foundation 140, 50.3 (2021): 62-74.

2020        Smith, Tara B. M. “Temptation, Transgression and Transition: Forbidden Fruit in Religious Myth”, Journal of Hellenic Religion 13 (2020): 115-132.

2018          Smith, Tara B. M. “Esoteric Themes in David Icke’s Conspiracy Theories”, The Journal for the Academic Studies of Religion 31 no.1 (2018).

2018          Smith, Tara B. M. “Knowledge and Cosmos: Discovering Gnostic Tropes in Olaf Stapledon’s Star Maker”, Literature & Aesthetics 28 no.1 (2018): 1-12.

Chapters

2025          Smith, Tara B. M. with Dr Lars de Wildt, “Miniatures and Masculinities: Gender, Lore, and Community in Warhammer 40K”. Title forthcoming, edited collection by Michael Dunn, Routledge, forthcoming 2026.

2025          Smith, Tara B. M. “Gods and Demons: The Role of Religion in 40K”. In Psychgeist of Pop Culture. ETC Press, 2025.

2025          Smith, Tara B. M. “Spirituality and Organised Religion in Frank Herbert’s Dune Series” in Theology, Religion, and Dune, edited by Christopher A Porter, Lexington Books: Fortress Press, forthcoming 2025.

2023         Smith, Tara B. M. with Dr Zoe Alderton, “Don’t Hold your Breath: Motives and Anxiety in Facebook COVID-19 Viral Shares”, in COVID Communication: Exploring Pandemic Rhetoric edited by Douglas Vakoch. SpringerNature, 2023.

Encyclopedia Entries

2024            Smith, Tara B. M. “Genesis II Church”, Encyclopedia entry in World Religions and Spirituality Project, 2024. At: https://wrldrels.org/2024/02/08/genesis-ii-church/.

Book reviews

2021       Smith, Tara B. M. “Kim Stanley Robinson by Robert Markley”, SFRA Review 51 no. 3 2021 “Unorthodox by Maria Schrader”. Australasian Journal of American Studies 3      9 no. 1 2020, 244-247.

2019              Smith, Tara B. M.  “Living in Technical Legality: Science Fiction and Law as Technology by Kieran Tranter”, Foundation 48, (134), 2019, 114-115.

2018               Smith, Tara B. M. “The Invention of Satanism by Asbjørn Dyrendal, James R. Lewis, and Jesper A. A. Peterson”, Journal of Religious History, 42 no. 2, 2018, 306-308.

Other Publications

2024                Smith, Tara B. M. “Miniature Mindfulness: Finding Flow with Warhammer 40,000 Figurines”, CSWR Newsletter Essay, 2024. At: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/03/26/miniature-mindfulness-finding-flow-warhammer-40000-figurines

2021-2022       Associate Lecturer, Unit Co-ordinator, Arts and Social Sciences, the University of Sydney, Australia

2020-2021       Associate Lecturer and Post-Graduate Teaching Fellow, Arts and Social Sciences, The University of Sydney, Australia

2021                Research Training Program Scholarship

The University of Sydney, Australia

2019                Deans Citation for Excellence in Tutorials Award

The University of Sydney, Australia

2017                Honours Scholarship, The University of Sydney, Australia

2017                John Cooper Memorial Prize, The University of Sydney, Australia

2017                GS Caird Scholarship in Studies in Religion III, The University of Sydney, Australia

2022                PhD in Studies of Religion, the University of Sydney, Australia, 2022,   Dissertation: “The Praxis of Science Fiction: Pedagogies for Social Change”

2022                Recognised as a FHEA (Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy)

2022                Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies (Higher Education), the University of Sydney, Australia

2018                Bachelor of Arts (Honours Class I), the University of Sydney, Australia