Summary

My research focuses on environmental governance and policy, and how knowledge from multiple disciplines and stakeholders can inform more effective policy and management interventions.  My current project, an Australian Research Council DECRA fellowship, is called 'Fire and Transformation: Managing capacity for managing Australian Bushfires". My publications can be viewed on ORCID or Google Scholar.

I have worked as an environmental and social scientist both within and outside academia. My PhD focused on landscape-scale biodiversity conservation and social-ecological systems based scenario planning. After my PhD, I was a tenured member of faculty (teaching and research) in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Liverpool. More recently, I was a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, where my DECRA was initially based. 

My interdisciplinary background and mix of academic and practical experience informs my approach to research, impact, and engagement. Prior to undertaking a PhD, I worked as an environmental scientist, consultant, and environmental policy adviser for over a decade in the USA and Australia. I worked on both the social and ecological aspects of environmental issues in government, NGOs, and private companies. My projects as a researcher and a practitioner were across multiple sectors and issues, including water resource management, forest management, contaminated site remediation, ecological restoration, biodiversity conservation on private and public lands, social impact assessment, environmental impact assessment, and environmental behaviour change. 

Research Theme: Governance and the Anthropocene

A key stream of my research is governance and the Anthropocene, which considers how we can better confront the social, economic, and ecologicical elements of transformational change. Currently that work focuses primarily on biodiversity, climate change, and natural hazards, including the following projects:

Fire and Transformation: Building capacity for managing Australian Bushfires (Australian Research Council, DECRA)

This project focuses on how changes to governance (including policy and management) can help Australia better confront three fundamental challenges relating to bushfires (wildfires): risk to life and property, conserving biodiversity, and escalating risks of climate change. The research seeks to identify leverage points to more effectively manage these challenges and consider trade-offs, looking first across Australia and internationally, then a deeper analysis of case studies in South West Western Australia and the Australian Alps. It also investigates knowledge governance and expert perceptions about current and future risk mitigation efforts, to evaluate how these efforts may need to change. Future scenarios will be further explored throught the use of novel foresight methods, to test how reforming governance and policy could enable more adaptive responses to social,economic, and environmental change. This requires consideration of both 'desirable' and 'undesirable' futures, and testing whether the aforementioned leverage points could result in better outcomes for people and the environment.

A licence to burn? Exploring public perceptions of bushfire risk management in a changing climate (Brooke Bushfire Research Fund)

This project solicits public judgment to assess the acceptability of current practices, asking: Does the government have a social licence for their fuel management programmes, especially prescribed burning?  Social licence calls attention to legitimacy, credibility, and trust as key elements shaping the acceptability of policy choices. This project seeks to engage those members of the public who have so far been silent in polarised public debates about prescribed burning, as social licence requires an understanding of general public sentiment, not merely the views of vocal minorities. Social licence is highly context-dependent and contingent on local relationships, so the research will focus on two case studies where these issues are highly salient: 1) the Great Southern in WA and 2) Canberra region, ACT. The project is led by Assoc Prof Sarah Clement, with co-investigators Dr Pele Cannon (ANU( and Dr Astrid Vachette (CSU).

Governance and the Anthropocene: Biodiversity, ecosystem transformation and environmental policy

These two fire projects evolved out of my research interests in improving ecosystem management in 'natural', cultural, and peri-urban landscapes. I am particularly interested in the interface between governance and the Anthropocene, especially with respect to issues such as wildfire, biodiversity, and climate change, which is detailed in my first book, Governing the Anthropocene: Novel ecosystems, transformation, and environmental policy (Palgrave, 2021).  I draw on ideas from adaptive governance, anticipatory governance, and resilience-based governance to understand how we can improve decision-making and improve the policies, laws and strategies we use to address environmental problems. My research in this area also includes how climate change and other human drivers of transformation impact the choices and preferences of conservation and restoration experts and practitioners. Some of this work informed my contributions to Biodiversity Revisited, where I wrote about culture and biodiversity conservation in Seeds of Change proceedings, and led the chapter on the Anthropocene, biodiversity, and culture in the research and action agenda for diverse and just futures, which is summarised in this article.

Research Theme: Nature-Based Solutions and Sustainable Urban Systems

Another stream of my research focuses on green infrastructure and nature-based solutions (NBS) for addressing environmental challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and poor health outcomes, and exploring whether they can provide more democratic, innovative, or socially just solutions to such challenges. 

Urban GreenUP (European Commission, Horizon 2020)

In urban environments, my work focuses on how green infrastructure and nature-based solutions can help address multiple environmental, social, and economic challenges; and how we might mainstream the use of such approaches in policy and planning if they prove to be effective. My interest in NBS started with my role as chief investigator for the University of Liverpool in the project Urban GreenUP. This 6-year project was funded by the European Commission's Horizon2020 programme, and implemented NBS in several cities across Europe, South America, and Asia to test their impact on social, economic, and biophysical conditions as well as their feasibility in a variety of global urban settings. We also developed a transferable process for 're-naturing' cities and adapting to climate change (see the Urban GreenUP website). We also contributed to testing and further development of the IUCN global standard for NBS, using Liverpool as a case study.

Nature-Based Solutions and Democratic, Just and Equitable Outcomes

As the concept of NBS and related ideas such as 'nature positive' become increasingly popular, I am particularly interested to see how it plays out in the governance realm, and whether the promise for more collaboration, participation, co-production, and democratic outcomes will be realised. I am working on several smaller projects relating to greenspaces and their health, well-being, and biodiversity benefits. This includes the PhD Studentship in collaboration with Natural England, funded by an Economic and Social Research Council studentship, which examines use, access, and benefits of green and natural spaces for Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities. Before returning to Australia, I was involved in the initial stages of the GroundsWell project, which aims to co-produce a whole systems approach to urban green and blue space to improve population health and reduce health inequalities. The main objective is to drive community innovation applying systems science that maximises the contribution of UGBS to the primary prevention of, and reduction of inequalities in, non-communicable disease in urban settings by addressing socio-economic causes. The project's ambitions and methods are described in more detail here.

Student Supervisions

I have supervised more than 70 masters and UG dissertations and 8 HDR students to completion. My current supervisions are below:

PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR

• Anna Williams, Exploring Community Resilience to Cascading Disasters in Australia, 2023-2027 (Co-supervisors: Dr Chris Browne, ANU and Assoc Prof Petra Buergelt, University of Canberra)

Anna's research investigates community resilience to natural disasters. In particular she is interested in how Australian communities adapt, transform, and learn from disasters, and how these processes influence their resilience to subsequent disasters. Anna hopes that by exploring the range of community responses to recent cascading disasters her work can help communities to actively build their adaptive capacities to climate-driven environmental change. 

• James Delbene, Socio-cultural values: their integration and importance in marine and coastal planning and policy, 2022-2025 (Co-Supervisors: Dr Becca Shellock, University of Tasmania; Dr Ingrid van Putten, CSIRO; Dr Chris Cvitanovic, UNSW; Dr Carol Martin NSW Department of Primary Industries)

Jim's research aims to improve the integration of socio-cultural values (mainly intangible and non-monetized values) into marine and coastal decision-making processes. Through an interdisciplinary approach working with resource managers, policymakers, and community members, insights from research and practice will inform case studies in New South Wales, Australia, aligning with ongoing efforts described in the NSW Marine Estate Management Strategy. Through his research, Jim will examine successful integration of socio-cultural values into marine and coastal decision-making processes, determine specific pathways to improve knowledge exchange with decision-makers around socio-cultural values, and identify actions to advance these efforts in Australia and abroad.

• Paul Elton, The reforms and funding that Australian governments should deliver to achieve Goal A and targets 2, 3 and 4 of the Global Biodiversity Framework. (Co-supervisors: Prof Jamie Pittock, ANU and Prof Martine Maron, University of Queensland)

Paul's research seeks to better understand what it would take, in terms of public funding and reforms, to enable Australian governments to achieve the biodiversity restoration, conservation and recovery objectives (targets 2, 3 and 4, and Goal A) of the Global Biodiversity Framework to halt and reverse biodiversity loss in Australia; and what may be required to catalyse the necessary urgent and transformative action. 

• Crystal Bradley, Legal and policy options for limiting the depletion of critical natural capital and ecosystem services in Australia (Co-supervisors: Emeritus Prof Steve Dovers, ANU; Assoc Prof Michael Vardon, ANU; Dr Ben Milligan, UNSW)

Crystal's research examines legal and policy options for limiting the depletion of critical natural capital and ecosystem services in Australia. Knowledge gaps about Australia’s critical natural capital will be assessed from a human survival perspective, through analysis of literature, existing data, and use of system dynamics and natural capital accounting techniques. Policy case studies will be used to test a new framework for prioritising critical natural capital in decision-making in increasingly difficult circumstances.

CO-SUPERVISOR/ASSOCIATE SUPERVISOR

• Andrew Palmer, Motivations to visit green and natural spaces: how perceptions of ‘quality’ vary across different communities, 2021-2025 (Principal Supervisor: Dr Mark Riley; Co-Supervisors: Dr Beth Brockett - Natural England, Professor Laurence Jones - Centre for Ecology and Hydrology; Dr Karl Evans - University of Sheffield)

Andrew's research is part of an ESRC-funded CASE studentship in collaboration with Natural England, drawing on insights from over a decade of data collected on green and natural spaces via the MENE and People and Nature Surveys. Evidence from these datasets and elsewhere shows green space is less accessible, visited less frequently, and provides less benefits to ethnic minority communities and communities with multiple deprivations. Despite the evident benefits of increasing access to quality green space among ethnic minority groups and disadvantaged communities, there is limited understanding of what ‘quality’ means to these important stakeholders; and a dearth of evidence on how to increase their access to – and motivation to use – green space. Andrew's research aims to fill this gap, focusing on BAME communities in Bristol, UK. Conceptually, he is exploring how bridging ideas from affordances thinking and Bourdieu’s theory of practice can inform a more intersectional and complete understanding of nature experiences, including the quality and inclusivity of green and natural spaces.

• Baige (Veblen) Zhang, Synergies and Trade-offs in Urban Green Infrastructure, 2021-2025 (Principal Supervisor: Peter Kanowski, ANU; Co-Supervisor: Dr Andrew MacKenzie, ANU)

Baige’s project is dedicated to uncovering the synergies and trade-offs between ecosystem services (ESs) and disservices (EDs) inherent in the implementation of urban green infrastructure. This research takes Canberra as a case study, examining the interrelationships between ESs and EDs when generated through ecosystem processes. Furthermore, it explores the coherence and divergence in stakeholders’ perceptions when they are delivered to different people. By employing a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, the research is designed to achieve the dual objectives of optimising the benefits of urban greening and mitigating environmental inequity.

• Umrah J. Mahadik, Connecting religious values to climate change adaptation and planning in UK Cities, 2023-2026 (University of Liverpool, Principal Supervisor: Prof Thomas Fischer, Co-Supervisor: Urmila Jha Thakur)

Umrah's research investigates the intersection of religious beliefs, values, and climate action to understand how we can effectively act on the most urgent environmental and moral issue of our time, climate change. Whilst there is widespread consensus on the evidence, the use of facts is limited in efforts to tackle climate change, as motivation to act is often more influenced by ideology and personal values. Her research aims to create an original, practical and innovative indexing system to score the adaptive capacity of dominant world religions. Her PhD is funded by the Gift of Knowledge with in-kind support from the William Temple Foundation.

• Roann P. Alberto, Impacts of Climate Change on Mangrove Subsistence Fisheries: A Case Study in Masinloc, Zambales, Philippines, 2019-2023 (Dual PhD in Sustainable Food Systems from University of Liverpool, UK and Central Luzon State University, Philippines; Principal Supervisor: Prof Andy Morse)

Roann's research explores mangrove subsistence fisers' perceptions of the direct effects of climate change in their respective areas and specifically to their livelihood; and to assess and identify how their local and traditional ecological knowledge and practices influence their perceptions, learnings, and behaviours in response to climate change.

RECENT COMPLETIONS

• Joe Duggan, How can an understanding of Sense of Place inform how scientists and policy makers support communities to respond to social-ecological change, 2024(Co-Supervisors:Dr Chris Cvitanovic, UNSW; Dr Ingrid van Putten, CSIRO)

Joe's research aimed to explore and understand the evolving conceptualisations of Sense of Place, and to identify its applicability to policy. Sense of Place,  that is, the emotional bond that a person (or group of people) has with a place impacts how individuals and groups interact with a place (i.e. their behaviours) and respond to disturbance or change (i.e. their adaptive capacity). In a changing world, an understanding of SoP and its relevance and applicability to policy is crucial. Joe's thesis sought to contribute both to research and practice with each research output designed to identify gaps in literature, to fill those gaps or to support the science-policy nexus.

• Kate Jones, Trust but Verify: An Exploration of Community Trust in the Australian Fire Danger Rating System, 2024 (Honours)

Kate's research investigated the factors that underlie community trust in the Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS), determining the psychosocial mechanisms that influence individual perceptions of its credibility. Her mixed methods study of Canberra's western edge community found that bushfire experience, self-efficacy, and trust in agency affects trust in the AFDRS. Results of this study show that at a community level, trust in the AFDRS is high, and that both trust in fire agencies and self-efficacy significantly influence trust in the system, with trust in agencies being the primary determinant. However, trust varies substantially across individuals, comprising an amalgamation of personal perceptions and relationships with institutions, and more qualitative research in particular is needed to explore the psychosocial determinants of trust in the system. 

• Sophie Preston, Examining the role of community engagement in nature-based solutions, 2020 (MPhil) 

Sophie's thesis examined the benefits and potential contribution of citizen participation to coproduce knowledge for the creation of locally-attuned NBS interventions. This is hypothesised to engender political support for NBS, enhance benefits delivered to local communities and help inform NBS planning and policy. Her research focused on Urban GreenUP in Liverpool, where she found there were activities that involved ‘community engagement’ in line with project aims, there was a significant lack of opportunities for meaningful participation with the project or engaging with broader questions about greening in the city. Community members expressed frustrations with the lack of depth of engagement and its timing within the project timeline, which points to improvements that are needed in funding and planning NBS implementation.

• Aiyewunmi Temitope Olusegun, Challenges and potential solutions to pluvial flood risk in urban tropical African communities, a case study using Ijebu-Ode, in South West Nigeria, 2023 (PhD, University of Liverpool.  Principal Supervisors: Prof Neil MacDonald; Co-Supervisor: Dr Heather Sangster) 

Tope's research focuses on resilience, vulnerability, and environmental precarity of communities affected by pluvial flooding in formal-informal settlements in Nigeria. He uses mixed methods from physical and human geography to enable a wide information base in a ‘data poor’ region. This research uncovers critical gaps in understanding of geophysical processes, vulnerability risk factors, and societal capacities and explores potential strategies to address them.

• Mashal Alammar, Adopting Urban Green Infrastructure in Arid Urban Cities (University of Liverpool, Pricipal Supervisor: David Shaw)

Mashal's research fills knowledge gaps related to urban green infrastruture planning in arid regions, which are understudied in the literature, particularly in the middle earst. Using qualitative methods and focusing on the Dammam Metropolitan Area, Saudi Arabia, his research sought a holistic understanding of planning, design, management, and maintenance of public open space, to understand how to leverage the benefits of green infrastructure in a way that aligns with arid urban environments.