Visiting Fellow
Applied history, the dynamics of society-nature interactions, participative research and integrative management
Phone: +61 (0)2 6125 0663
Fax: + 61 (0)2 6125 0746
E-mail: Katrina.Proust@anu.edu.au

After working in the legal profession, science management, cultural heritage conservation and management, Katrina completed a PhD in 2004 at the ANU Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies. That research involved development of a way to integrate historical research with studies of feedback dynamics in social-ecological systems. Against a case study of irrigation salinity in British India and south-eastern Australia, her thesis explored the difficulties of learning from past mistakes in natural resource management (NRM).

Professional Activities

Katrina's work continues to focus on integrating history with investigations of feedback dynamics in human-environment relationships. It includes increasing community understanding of the ecological, social and cultural aspects of NRM; and developing practical skills in a systems-thinking approach in NRM.  She is particularly interested in the interconnected systems of coastal communities, and would be pleased to hear from students thinking of studying problems in this area.

Community Activities

A member of the Pambula Lake Estuary and Catchment Group, on the NSW Far South Coast. The group is applying a systems approach, being developed by Newell and Proust, to support the development of an Estuary Management Plan for the lake.

A member of a team that is designing a Local Leaders Program for the NSW Far South Coast. The program will be delivered in 2009 in partnership with Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority and Far South Coast Landcare Association.

Selected Publications

Proust, K., 2003, Ignoring the Signals: Irrigation Salinity in New South Wales, Australia, Irrigation and Drainage, 52:39-49.

PhD thesis Learning from the Past for Sustainability: Towards an Integrated Approach http://thesis.anu.edu.au/public/adt-ANU20050706.140605/index.html

Newell, B. and K. Proust, 2004, The Darwin Harbour Modelling Project. A Report to the Ecological Research Group of the Darwin Harbour Advisory Committee http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/water/dhac/publications/pdf/finalreport20050307.pdf

Proust, K., 2005, Hugh McKinney: A Colonial Engineer, Australian Journal of Irish Studies, 5:1-18.

Proust, K., 2005, Hugh McKinney, on Bright Sparcs database of Australian scientists and engineers http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P004573b.htm

Fazey, I., K. Proust, B. Newell, B. Johnson, J.A. Fazey, 2006, Eliciting the Implicit Knowledge and Perceptions of On-Ground Conservation Managers of the Macquarie Marshes, Ecology and Society, 11(1):25. http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art25

Proust, K. and B. Newell, 2006, Catchment and Community: Towards a management-focused dynamical study of the ACT water system. Research paper for ACTEW Corporation, Canberra http://www.water.anu.edu.au/pdf/publications/Catchment%20and%20Community.pdf

Proust, K., S. Dovers, B. Foran, B. Newell, W. Steffen, P. Troy, 2007, Climate, Energy and Water: Accounting for the Links. Discussion paper for Land & Water Australia http://www.lwa.gov.au/downloads/publications_pdf/ER071256.pdf

Newell, B., K. Proust, R. Dyball, P. McManus, 2007, Seeing Obesity as a Systems Problem, NSW Public Health Bulletin, 18(11-12): 214-218. http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/226/issue/4094.htm

Proust, K. 2008, Salinity in Colonial Irrigation: British India and South-eastern Australia, Australian Geographer, 39(2): 131-147.

Newell, B., K. Proust, G. Wiltshire, D. Newell, 2008, Taking a Systems Approach to Estuary Management. Proceedings of 17^th NSW Coastal Conference, Wollongong, 2008.