Environmental Sciences

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I began my professional career helping farmers reclaim drifting sand dunes in the South Australian Mallee, then moved to supporting groups in Victoria with activities as diverse as managing their creek frontages to maintain populations of Trout Cod, to fostering group management skills to maintain their Landcare groups. A common thread throughout my agency employment was working with, and learning from, the people who manage the land. My love of nature has grown as I have learned more about ecosystems, but I have also come to understand that people are an exciting, intricate and (usually) dominant element of natural resource management.

My research interests include regional scale adaptive management, and the related topics of land management planning, project implementation, program evaluation and social learning. I am particularly interested in qualitative research approaches, including participatory and collaborative research which empowers communities. I also employ analysis of social discourse to better understand the rural societies in which we live.

I am the administrator of OzAM, the email list of the Australian adaptive management network.

Interests

• Native vegetation management, especially of native grasslands
• Reading and re-reading the works of Jane Austen and JRR Tolkein
• Sustainable living

Teaching & Research

Current Subjects Taught

• Social dimensions of environmental management
• Natural Resource Management
• Social Research methods for natural resource management

Research Students

• Gillian Earl (PhD)
• Prue Laidlaw (PhD)