University of South Australia social scientist Sophie Guy, whose research interests include the social determinants of health and prevention of mental illness, has been preselected to challenge incumbent Labor MP Kate Ellis for the Greens.

Guy told InDaily that while she was “in it to win it” she was “realistic” about her chances.

The Greens have never won the seat, and its 2013 candidate Ruth Beach attracted just over 10 per cent of the vote.

Greens candidate for Adelaide Sophie Guy.

“I’m excited to talk to the people of Adelaide about [Greens] policies and try to increase the vote here, with a longer view to its being able to be a Greens seat in the future,” Guy said.

“We’re pretty realistic about the chances of winning it this time around.

“Our goal is to increase the votes in the seat.”

Guy, who worked on Adam Bandt’s re-election campaign in Melbourne before returning to her home town of Adelaide in 2014, said the Greens policies on combatting climate change would reap health and economic benefits for South Australians.

“There’s a lot of decisions that we need to make about climate change that would also have huge health benefits – for example, more nature and greenery in our suburbs and in our city, and better public transport for the people who [would be] less inclined to jump in the car,” she said.

“There’s a huge opportunity to reskill and retrain people that have skills in the automotive industry to be able to work in, for example, the electric car industry, or renewable energy.”

The Liberal Party has selected lawyer David Colovic to stand in the seat.

The Nick Xenophon Team’s candidate is Joe Hill, who works in business development with Coffey International.