Dr Thong Tran

Contacts

Contact email:thong.tran@anu.edu.au
Contact phone:+61 (0) 431 629 270
Location:Fenner School of Environment and Society ANU College of Science
Link:ANU Researchers profile
PhD (ANU)
Honorary Lecturer

Dr Thong Tran is an Honorary Lecturer at Fenner School of Environment and Society, College of Science, The Australian National University, where he obtained his PhD in Human Ecology in 2017. His research agenda focuses on climate-development dynamics and sustainability in mainland Southeast Asia. He works on interdisciplinary areas of environmental governance with a particular focus on (transboundary) environmental commons, rural agricultural innovations, climate change adaptation, social learning, livelihood resilience, environmental justice, and institutional change. From January 2018 to May 2021, he was a Research Fellow at Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, working on transboundary water challenges driven by upstream hydropower development and climate change in the Mekong region. Currently, he is a Research Fellow (Human Geography) at School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of Melbourne, engaging in an ACIAR-funded project "Next generation agricultural extension: Social relations for practice change" led by Associate Professor Brian Robert Cook. The project aims to reconceptualise agricultural extension as social relations and develop a social model of agricultural extension, focusing on Battambang and Pailin provinces in Cambodia.

Dr Thong Tran serves as an Associate Editor for (1) Society and Natural Resources and (2) Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. He also serves on the Editorial Boards of (1) Journal of Flood Risk Management providing an international platform for knowledge sharing in all areas related to flood risk, and (2) International Journal of Water Resources Development publishing developments in water management and policy-making for water resources.

Research interests

  • (Transboundary) environmental governance
  • Human-environment relationships
  • Environment and development nexus
  • State-society interactions in environment and development
  • Social learning
  • Climate change adaptation
  • Institutional change
  • Rural livelihoods
  • Mainland Southeast Asia
  • Le, V T H, Tran, T A & Rola-Rubzen, M F 2023, 'How subjectivities and subject-making influence community participation in climate change adaptation: The case of Vietnam', Climatic Change, 176(156), 1–23.
  • Tran, T A & Cook, B R 2023, 'Water retention for agricultural resilience in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: towards integrated ‘grey-green’ solutions', International Journal of Water Resources Development, 1–22.
  • Tran, T A 2023, Solutions for Vietnam's water scarce Delta. East Asia Forum.
  • Bayrak, M M, Hieu, T V, Tran, T A, Hsu, Y -Y, Nien, T & Quynh, D T T 2023, 'Climate change adaptation responses and human mobility in the Mekong Delta: Local perspectives from rural households in An Giang Province, Vietnam', Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10(1), 1–14.
  • Tran, D, Park, E, Tran, T A, Vo T T & Le, P T 2023, 'Socio-hydrological trade-offs arising from triple cropping in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: Revisiting environmental impacts and adaptation pathways', Environmental Technology and Innovation, 29, 102987.
  • Keovilignavong, O, Tran, T A & Bounyasouk, T 2023, 'Tea farming communities' perceptions of Fairtrade and COVID-19 in Phongsali district of Laos', Community Development: Journal of the Community Development Society, 54(2), 271–291.
  • Tran, T A 2022, The Mekong delta's transboundary water problems. East Asia Forum.
  • Tran, T A, Rigg, J, Taylor, D, Miller, M A, Pittock, J & Le, P T 2022, 'Social memory in the Mekong’s changing floodscapes: Narratives of agrarian communities’ adaptation', Human Ecology, 50, 879–893.
  • Tran, T A, Tran, H, Pittock, J & Cook B R 2022, 'Political ecology of freshening the Mekong's coastal delta: narratives of place-based land-use dynamics', Journal of Land Use Science, 17(1), 471–486.
  • Tran, T A & Tortajada, C 2022, 'Responding to transboundary water challenges in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: In search of institutional fit', Environmental Policy and Governance, 32(4), 331–347.
  • McCall, G, Akpan, A, Banaduc, D, Figueroa, D, Fontoura, N, Hitchcock, R, Horn, S, Kar, D & Tran, T A 2022, 'The estuarine ecological knowledge network makes progress: International project sites and potential ways forward', Marine Technology Society Journal, 56(3), 116–117.
  • Tran, T A, Dang, T D, Nguyen, T H & Pham, H T V 2021, 'Moving towards sustainable coastal adaptation: Analysis of hydrological drivers of saltwater intrusion in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta', Science of the Total Environment, 770, 1–11.
  • Poelma, T, Bayrak, M, Nha, D V & Tran, T A 2021, 'Climate change and livelihood resilience capacities in the Mekong Delta: a case study on the transition to rice-shrimp farming in Vietnam's Kien Giang Province', Climatic Change, 164(9), 1–20.
  • Tran, T A, Pittock, J & Tran, D D 2020, 'Adaptive flood governance in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: A policy innovation of the North Vam Nao scheme, An Giang Province', Environmental Science and Policy, 108, 45–55.
  • Dang, T & Tran, T 2020, 'Rural Industrialization and Environmental Governance Challenges in the Red River Delta, Vietnam', Journal of Environment and Development, 29(4), 420–448.
  • Tran, T A & Suhardiman, D 2020, 'Laos' hydropower development and cross-border power trade in the Lower Mekong Basin: A discourse analysis', Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 61(2), 219–235.
  • Tran, T A, James, H & Nhan, D K 2020, 'Effects of social learning on rural farmers' adaptive capacity: Empirical insights from the Vietnamese Mekong Delta', Society and Natural Resources, 33(9), 1053–1072.
  • Tran, T A 2020, 'From free to forced adaptation: A political ecology of the 'state-society-flood' nexus in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta', Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 61(1), 162–182.
  • Nguyen, H Q, Tran, D D, Dang, K K, Korbee, D, Pham, L D M H, Vu, L T, Luu, T T, Ho, L H, Nguyen, P T, T. Ngo, T T, Nguyen, D T K, Wyatt, A, van Aalst, M, Tran, T A & Sea, W B 2020, 'Land-use dynamics in the Mekong delta: From national policy to livelihood sustainability', Sustainable Development, 28(3), 448–467.
  • Tran, T A & Le, A T 2020, 'Policy transfer into flood management in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: A North Vam Nao study', International Journal of Water Resources Development, 36(1), 106–126.
  • Tran, T A 2020, 'Learning as an everyday adaptation practice in the rural Vietnamese Mekong Delta', Climate and Development, 12(7), 610–613.
  • Pham, H T V, Febriamansyah, R, Afrizal, A & Tran, T A 2020, 'Adapting to saline intrusion: Empirical insights from two coastal areas in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta', Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 28 (2), 1553–1566.
  • Tran, T A & Rodela, R 2019, 'Integrating farmers' adaptive knowledge into flood management and adaptation policies in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: A social learning perspective', Global Environmental Change, 55, 84–96.
  • Tran, T A 2019, 'Land use change driven out-migration: Evidence from three flood-prone communities in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta', Land Use Policy, 88, 104157.
  • Tran, T A, Nguyen, T H & Vo, T T 2019, 'Adaptation to flood and salinity environments in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: Empirical analysis of farmer-led innovations', Agricultural Water Management, 216, 89–97.
  • Tran, T A, Pittock, J & Le, A T 2019, 'Adaptive co-management in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: Examining the interface between flood management and adaptation', International Journal of Water Resources Development, 35(2), 325–341.
  • Tran, T A & James, H 2019, 'Changing livelihood options as adaptation: A comparative analysis of three flood control schemes in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta', in Helen James (ed.), Population, Development, and The Environment: Challenges to Achieving the Sustainable development goals in the Asia Pacific, Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore, 137–154.
  • Tran, T A, James, H & Pittock, J 2018, 'Social learning through rural communities of practice: Empirical evidence from farming households in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta', Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 16, 31–44.
  • Pham, H T V, Febriamansyah, R, Afrizal, A & Tran, T A 2018, 'Government intervention and farmers' adaptation to saline intrusion: A Case study in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta', International Journal on Advanced Science, Engineering and Information Technology, 8(5), 2142–2148.
  • Tran, T A & James, H 2017, 'Transformation of household livelihoods in adapting to the impacts of flood control schemes in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta', Water Resources and Rural Development, 9, 67–80.
  • Vo, T T, Tran, T A & Luong, D 2017, 'Water governance for sustainable development: International practices and implications for the Mekong Delta region', Journal of Economic Development, 24(4), 99–120.