People
Founder members of TARA were the attendees at the first workshop in Canberra, October, 2014: Tim Capon, Matt Colloff, Audrey Coreau, Patrick Degeorges, Michael Doherty, Michael Dunlop, Russell Gorddard, Hedley Grantham, Craig James, Sandra Lavorel, Bruno Locatelli, Pierre-Yves Longaretti, Berta Martín-López, Helen Murphy, Ian Overton, Todd Sanderson, Mark Stafford Smith, Rachel Williams and Russ Wise.
Nick Abel is an interdisciplinary scientist based at the Fenner School for Environment and Society, Australian National University, Canberra. Nick uses participative research and resilience thinking while working with stakeholders and policy makers on the governance and management of natural resources. His recent work is on adaptive pathways and transformation for social-ecological systems impacted by globalisation and climate change on Australia’s coast and in the Murray Darling Basin. Nick has worked with pastoralists, Indigenous people, conservationists, the mining and tourism industries and policy-makers in attempts to transform land use in Western New South Wales. Though transformation has yet to occur, much was learned that contributes to work on adaptation pathways, and the project did catalyse significant reforms. Nick was born in Zimbabwe, raised in Kenya, and has worked in Ethiopia, Botswana, Somalia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe as well as Australia. Nick’s publications
Sandra Bhatasara is a social researcher and lecturer in the Sociology Department at the University of Zimbabwe where she teaches environmental sociology, climate change and society and gender studies. She has a background in anthropology and sociology. She is interested in climate change adaptation research using sociology and political economy perspectives. Specifically, she focuses on the analysis of local adaptive practices and processes, gender and adaptation, the role of knowledge in adaptation, sustainability and resilience. Her research interests are also in adaptation governance in local scales especially considering other governance facets related to natural resources management and land reform. Sandra’s publications
James Butler is a sustainability scientist with a background in agricultural economics, terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecology gained in southern Africa, Europe and Australia. He joined Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, in 2006, and is based in Brisbane as a Senior Scientist. His research analyses complex development problems in the Asia-Pacific, with a focus on regional security and climate compatible development. He applies concepts of social-ecological systems, resilience, transformation and well-being to explore alternative futures through participatory action research. James enjoys integrating the varied knowledge of science disciplines, communities and policy-makers to generate systems understanding, innovation and change. More…James’s publications
Matt Colloff is an ecologist and taxonomist by training, a founder member of TARA and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Fenner School for Environment and Society, Australian National University, Canberra. His current research is in integrative science to underpin natural resource management and adaptation to global change. Matt is passionate about exploring the influence that people have on landscapes and place and how, in turn, place influences people. More… Matt’s publications
Audrey Coreau was formerly at AgroParisTech and a member of the Centre Alexandre-Koyré in Paris and is now with Agence Française pour la Biodiversité Onema. She has a background in ecology and civil engineering of water and forestry systems. Her research focusses on the links between ecological knowledge and public action on biodiversity; strategic analysis of biodiversity management. Audrey’s research is interdisciplinary and prospective, using predictive and narrative approaches to address issues at the science-policy interface. More… Audrey’s publications
Patrick Degeorges is a philosopher, currently affiliated with the Institut Rhônalpin des Systèmes Complexes, École normale supérieure de Lyon. Until recently, Patrick was with the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, based in Paris. Patrick’s interests at the interface between philosophy and ecology include the management of large predators, the reappropriation of abandoned urban spaces, the storytelling of adaptation to climate change and the political and philosophical challenges of the Anthropocene. More… Patrick’s publications
Michael Doherty is a plant ecologist with the Fenner School for Environment and Society, Australian National University, Canberra. He has over 30 years’ experience in vegetation management in south-eastern Australia, particularly in relation to disturbance regimes. Michael’s research passion is in understanding the dynamics and management of temperate ecosystems and the management of changing fire regimes and vegetation structure. Michael’s publications
Michael Dunlop is an integration scientist with CSIRO Land and Water in Canberra, Australia. His research is on climate adaptation. Mike’s research has a particular focus on understanding the implications of climate change for biodiversity conservation and helping natural resource managers and policymakers make planning decisions that effectively incorporate consideration of future climate change. More… Mike’s publications
Roberto Fernandez is at IFEVA, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and has thirty years of experience teaching graduate and undergraduate ecology, biodiversity and related environmental subjects. His research is centred on plant eco-physiology, with an emphasis on drought and grazing effects, desertification and human impacts on water cycling. Roberto also conducts research on energy subsidies to cropping systems. He is currently interested in how science results are used for decision making. Roberto is a keen trail runner. More…Roberto’s publications
Russell Gorddard is an agricultural and natural resource economist by training with research interests in sustainability, adaptation to global change and the relationship between knowledge, values and rules in framing the decision context for adaptation planning and action. Russell is based in CSIRO Land and Water in Canberra and has a strong research interest in emerging systems of transactions and exchange in social-economic systems and their implications for adaptation to change. Russell’s publications
Adrienne Grêt-Regamey is an environmental scientist and landscape planner. She has been Professor at the Chair of Planning Landscape and Urban Systems (PLUS) at the Institute for Spatial and Landscape Development, ETH Zürich (Switzerland) since 2008. Her research focuses on understanding how the interactions and/or actions of humans shape landscapes at various temporal and spatial scales, using different land-use decision models in forecasting and backcasting modes. For fostering participatory landscape planning, she investigates how people perceive the landscape in the new AudioVisual Lab, where state-of-the-art 3D visualizations and auralizations of landscape changes are generated and decision support tools developed. She also explores how an iterative process between design and science can allow co-creating place specific responses satisfying human needs and demands for well-being in a sustainable manner. For one of her recent research projects, the consortium was awarded the Swiss National Science Foundation Transdisciplinary Award. More…Adrienne’s publications
Sandra Lavorel is a landscape and ecosystem ecologist, research director at Laboratoire d’écologie alpine (LECA), CNRS, Grenoble, France. Sandra works on the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and their services and undertakes transdisciplinary research in partnership with local and regional stakeholders, to contribute to biodiversity and ecosystem assessments More… Sandra’s publications
Bruno Locatelli is an environmental scientist with CIRAD, currently seconded to CIFOR (Center for International Forestry Research) in Lima, Peru. Bruno’s research interests are in the assessment, mapping and modeling of ecosystem services and the use of forest ecosystem services for climate change adaptation and mitigation. He is also focussed on issues of power and equity in decision processes related to ecosystem services and adaptation to climate change. More… Bruno’s publications
Pierre-Yves Longaretti is a research scientist at the French National centre for Research (CNRS) at the Laboratory of Astrophysics, Grenoble, France. His research activities are divided between theoretical astrophysics and sustainability science. Pierre-Yves has helped develop interdisciplinary collaborative research teams in environmental and social sciences, including his contribution to the STEEP group, devoted to modelling and simulation of the interactions between the environmental, economic and social factors within the context of transition to sustainability at local and regional scales. More…
Berta Martín-López is Professor of Sustainability Science at the Institute of Ethics and Transdisciplinary Sustainability Research (IETSR), Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany. With a PhD in Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Berta’s research is on understanding and analysing the dynamics of social-ecological systems from local to global scales. She is particularly focused on the institutional analysis of biodiversity and ecosystem services and the role of informal institutions, local ecological knowledge and gender in the governance systems. More… Berta’s publications
Seona Meharg has extensive experience in the implementation of sustainable development, project management and evaluation, and transdisciplinary approaches to adaptation in developing countries. Seona is with CSIRO Land and Water in Canberra and her research focus is on providing useable, practical knowledge for decision making on adaptation issues. Seona is undertaking a PhD (part-time) through the Fenner School of Environment and Society at Australian National University (ANU) on how change can be catalysed in international development projects, including issues of gender and capacity building for adaptation. More… Seona’s publications
Claudia Múnera is a conservation biologist with experience in biodiversity and conservation science, climate change adaptation, sustainable development and environmental policy. She has worked with a variety of institutions in Colombia and Central America from the local to institutional levels; experience that has allowed her to obtain a broad perspective to understand global trends, and the background behind private and public sector initiatives, science and policy. Her current work as a researcher at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, is to support adaptive governance for protected areas management in Colombia, including processes that facilitate strategic thinking and collective learning that help to understand and navigate global changes. More…
Deborah O’Connell is a Principal Research Scientist based in CSIRO Land and Water in Canberra with considerable research experience in sustainable development, resilience of social-ecological systems, adaptation to global change, and interactions between environment, water, food and energy. Her current research is on developing and testing a practical framework for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) on the assessment of resilience and adaptation of agro-ecosystems. More… Deb’s publications
Mark Stafford Smith recently retired from co-ordinating climate adaptation research across CSIRO and oversighting a highly interdisciplinary program dealing with many aspects of adapting to climate change, as well as interacting with national and international policy issues. Mark is former chair of the science committee of Future Earth and is based in Canberra. Mark started as a systems ecologist with a focus on drylands, and for a long time was based in Alice Springs, working on arid zone ecology and then looking at peoples’ decision making, interactions between pastoral production and conservation, and trying to understand how regional economies work in remote areas. More… Mark’s publications
Lorrae Van Kerkhoff holds a PhD in Human Ecology and was a post-doctoral fellow at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University (ANU), Canberra. Now at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU, she has published extensively on integrative and transdisciplinary research concepts and methods. Lorrae’s research and teaching interests include qualitative and integrative research methods, particularly as they contribute to decision-making and action in the arenas of sustainability and global health. She is particularly interested in the role of science in governance, decision-and policy-making as it relates to sustainability; north-south research collaborations; and institutional influences on the governance of knowledge. More… Lorrae’s publications
Russ Wise is leader of the Enabling Adaptation Pathways Project in CSIRO Land and Water, Canberra, Australia. A sustainability economist with a background in natural resources management and policy, Russ is passionate about working with people on developing approaches that enable learning and decision making under high uncertainty. More… Russ’s publications
Gretchen Walters is a social scientist and botanist, currently Assistant Professor in Development Practice at the University of Lausanne (UNIL), Switzerland. Formerly, Gretchen co-led work within IUCN on developing institutional approach to nature-based solutions and in mainstreaming governance within the organisation. She has worked in the Americas, Europe and Africa for 22 years, 13 in Central Africa. She is committed to bridging gaps between the biological and social-historical sciences, amongst research, practice and policy, and in improving natural resource governance. She is a member of IUCN’s Natural Resource Governance Framework Working Group and the Species Survival Commission and is a Visiting Scholar at the University College London. More… Gretchen’s publications
Rachel Williams is a social scientist with CSIRO Land and Water in Canberra. With a background in chemistry, Rachel has undertaken research in the minerals and pharmaceutical sectors. Rachel coordinated the Complex Systems Science Research Network in CSIRO. Rachel’s recent research has involved an understanding of processes of learning through engagement with researchers and rural communities involved in various aspects of transformational change, including livelihood transformation, renewable energy production and sea level rise. More… Rachel’s publications
Carina Wyborn is an interdisciplinary social scientist with the Luc Hoffman Institute based at the College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana, Missoula, USA. Carina studies knowledge co-production in climate adaptation with US federal land management agencies and NGOs in Southern Colorado. She explores the different social, ecological, and institutional contexts of land management in Australia and the United States. More… Carina’s publications