Research Fellow
Socio-economic impact assessment for resource-dependent industries, participatory resource management, environmental conflict, forest policy, fisheries policy
Phone: +61 (0)2 6125 2737
Fax: + 61 (0)2 6125 0746
E-mail: Jacki.Schirmer@anu.edu.au

Jacki has been undertaking research on social dimensions of natural resource management for seven years. After completing undergraduate degrees in Forestry and Economics at ANU, she worked as a consultant in forest economics at FORTECH (now URS Forestry) before returning to SRES to complete her doctorate. From 2003 to 2005 she was a scientist with the Social Sciences Program of the Bureau of Rural Sciences. She has co-taught SRES3007 'Participatory Resource Management' since 2003. Jacki currently leads the 'Communities' project of the Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry. The Communities project includes researchers at ANU, the University of Melbourne, University of Tasmania and Southern Cross University.

Professional Activities

My research interests are primarily in the area of studying the socio-economic impacts of changes in land use and access to natural resources such as fish stocks. I have spent most of the last seven years undertaking research examining the social issues that emerge as a result of rapid land use change - for example, disputes and conflicts arising out of land use change from traditional agriculture to plantations. As well as undertaking qualitative studies of people's perceptions of land use change impacts, I was recently lead author of a Bureau of Rural Sciences study aiming to better understand if the perceptions commonly held in rural communities about impacts of plantation expansion are borne out by independent data on population and employment change in the regions experiencing these shifts.

I have a particular interest in exploring and extending approaches to combining the use of qualitative and quantitative methods to examine impacts of land use and resource access change. My current work with the CRC for Forestry 'Communities' project is further exploring how the use of statistics from sources such as the ABS can be usefully combined with qualitative data drawn from residents of rural communities to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of impacts of land use change.

Selected Publications

Schirmer, J. and Pickworth, J. 2005. A social assessment of the contributions of commercial fishing to the Gippsland Lakes region of Victoria. Case study report for FRDC Project 2003/056 A social assessment handbook for use by Australian fisheries managers in ESD assessment and monitoring. Bureau of Rural Sciences, Canberra. URL: <http://www.affashop.gov.au/product.asp?prodid=13281>

Schirmer, J. and Pickworth, J. 2005. A social assessment of the Marine Scalefish Fishery of South Australia. Case study report for FRDC Project 2003/056 A social assessment handbook for use by Australian fisheries managers in ESD assessment and monitoring. Bureau of Rural Sciences, Canberra. URL: <http://www.affashop.gov.au/product.asp?prodid=13282>

Schirmer, J.; Parsons, M.; Charalambou, C.; and Gavran, M. 2005. Socio-economic impacts of plantation forestry in the Great Southern region of WA, 1991 to 2004. Report produced for FWPRDC Project PN04.4007. Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation, Melbourne URL: <http://www.affashop.gov.au/product.asp?prodid=13290>

Schirmer, J.; Parsons, M.; Charalambou, C.; and Gavran, M. 2005. Socio-economic impacts of plantation forestry in the South West Slopes of NSW, 1991 to 2004. Report produced for FWPRDC Project PN04.4007. Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation, Melbourne URL: <http://www.affashop.gov.au/product.asp?prodid=13295>

Schirmer, J. and Casey, A.M. 2005. Social Assessment Handbook: A guide to methods and approaches for assessing the social sustainability of fisheries in Australia. FRDC ESD Reporting and Assessment Subprogram Publication No. 7. Bureau of Rural Sciences and Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, Canberra. URL: <http://www.affashop.gov.au/product.asp?prodid=13168>

Tonts, M. and Schirmer, J. 2005. Managing social conflict in the tree plantation industry: growing consensus or deepening divisions In Cryle, D. and Hillier, J. (eds) Consent and consensus: politics, media and governance in twentieth century Australia. API Network, Perth. pp. 275-296.

Schirmer, J. and Kanowski, P. 2005. A mixed economy Commonwealth of States: Australia. In Garforth, M. and Mayers, J. (eds) Plantations, privatization, poverty and power. Earthscan, London. pp. 101-125.

Schirmer, J. and Roche, M.M. 2005. Corporatization, commercialization and privatization: New Zealand. In Garforth, M. and Mayers, J. (eds) Plantations, privatization, poverty and power. Earthscan, London. pp. 200-222.

Schirmer, J. and Tonts, M. 2003. Plantations and sustainable rural communities. Australian Forestry 66: 67-74

Schirmer, J. 2002. Plantation forestry disputes: case studies on concerns, causes, processes and paths toward resolution. Technical Report No. 42 (Revised), Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Production Forestry, Hobart.

Schirmer, J. Kanowski, P. and Race, D. 2000. Factors affecting adoption of plantation forestry on farms: implications for farm forestry development in Australia. Australian Forestry 63: 44-51

Schirmer, J. Kanowski, P. and Race, D. 2000. Landholders' reasons for adopting or rejecting plantation forestry on farms in north-east Tasmania. Rural Society 10(3)