Date: Friday, 26 October 2018
Time: 9.30am-11.00am
Location: Forestry Building #48, Room F1.08 , ANU
Discussion leads: Richard Beggs, Pele Cannon, Ben Gleeson, Matt Colloff
Topic: Reflexive Conservation Practice
In this month’s AMICIE forum, three current Fenner PhD candidates will present on little-explored aspects of conservation science. Attendees will have the opportunity to consider issues raised and discuss their implications for current and future conservation practice.
Richard will discuss some of the uninterrogated assumptions behind Australian environmental management, including the affective foundation of the native/non-native dichotomy and the ethics of the mass slaughter of exotic invasives or overabundant natives.
Pele's research is questioning the connections between ontology, epistemology, and ethics, especially regarding coexistence with non-human nature. This has involved diving into the many rabbit holes of literature around environmental philosophy, 'environmental' and 'deep green' ethics, and at its darkest moments, the nature of reality itself. ....Or is that the reality of nature?
Ben will describe ecogeomorphic change in SE Australia following the arrival of European livestock and consider some perverse outcomes of weed management activities in the face of widespread landscape incision. This example will be used to illustrate a potential conception of ‘nature’s agency’ in the form of novel-ecological response to historic human-induced environmental change.
Date: Friday, 28 September 2018
Time: 9.30am-11.00am
Location: Forestry Building #48, Room F1.08 , ANU
Discussion leads: Aaron Tang
Topic: Methodologies for the future - geoengineering governance
In this month's AMICIE forum, Fenner PhD student Aaron Tang will discuss methodological aspects of his PhD research into the governance of geoengineering. In Aaron's words:
Limiting catastrophic global warming is not possible without geoengineering. Technical geoengineering research is in its early stages, but some geoengineering interventions are gaining attention. We can create machines that directly capture carbon dioxide. We can ‘farm’ carbon dioxide and store it underground. We can also reflect solar energy by turning the sky white (yes, you read that right). Geoengineering can help, but geoengineering can harm.
Governance and regulation of geoengineering will therefore be crucial. However, most geoengineering research is technical. My PhD helps fill this important gap by exploring the politics and governance of geoengineering.
But how do you research something that only exists a decade from now? Where do we find data where no data exists? How can we make research relevant for an unguessable future? In an era of innovation, technology, and black swans, these questions are crucial in the design of useful and valid research. In this forum, I will share some of my insights (/struggles) in designing research for the unknown from my PhD experience so far.
Date: Friday, 31 August 2018
Time: 9.30am-11.00am
Location: Forestry Building #48, Room F1.08 , ANU
Discussion leads: Dr Lorrae van Kerkhoff
Topic: Debrief from Knowledge Exchange and Co-production workshop
The ANU recently hosted a workshop on knowledge exchange and co-production (KE&CP) in environmental research, management, and policy, organised by a network of researchers from several Australian and New Zealand universities. The purpose of the workshop was to open conversations and build networks among the growing number of researchers and practitioners working in knowledge exchange and co-production for environmental research, management, and policy.
The August AMICIE session will be an informal discussion, with colleagues who attended the recent KE&CP workshop sharing their experiences, reflections and emerging research ideas and opportunities.
Date: Friday, 27 July 2018
Time: 9.30am-11.00am
Location: Seminar room 1.13, Coombs extension, ANU
Discussion leads: Dr Rosie Cooney
Topic: Catching poachers or stopping poaching? Addressing the global illegal wildlife trade crisis
Globally, combating illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is at the top of the conservation policy agenda. This is for good reason - poaching for IWT is decimating populations of iconic species (rhinos, elephants, pangolins, primates), as well as a host of lesser known plants and animals, while jeopardising human security and livelihood assets. Narratives, policy and practice around poaching for IWT have increasingly adopted the language and approaches of militarisation, with heavy emphasis on law enforcement along the supply chain. However, insights from several lines of research emphasise the need for a new paradigm in combating IWT, to addressing the underlying causes and drivers of poaching. This talk presents the case for moving from a focus on militarised/hi tech approaches to catching poachers, to nuanced, locally sensitive approaches that change the incentives facing local actors and reduce poaching at source. It draws on several years of work on community-based approaches to IWT led by the speaker for IUCN CEESP/SSC Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group, in collaboration with the Institute for Environment and Development, London; TRAFFIC; and many local partners.
Presenter Rosie Cooney works on the governance, conservation and livelihood dimensions of legal and illegal use and trade in wild resources. She is Chair, IUCN CEESP/SSC Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group and a Honorary staff member in the Fenner School of Environment and Society at ANU. She is also Deputy Chair of the Collaborative Partnership on Wildlife established under the CBD; Honorary Fellow, ICCA Consortium; and Lead author, IPBES Asia-Pacific Regional Assessment. Rosie was a member of Ban Ki-Moon's United Nations Science Advisory Board.
Date: Friday, 29 June 2018
Time: 9.30am-11.00am
Location: Forestry Building #48, Room F1.08
Discussion leads: Seona Meharg, Michael Dunlop, Deborah O'Connell (CSIRO), and Claudia Munera (ANU)
Topic: Adaptation Futures: Debrief from ANU and CSIRO colleagues attending Adaptation Futures conference in Cape Town.
Adaptation Futures is the world’s premier conference on climate change adaptation, this year the conference looks to facilitate dialogues for solutions between key actors from diverse perspectives and regions.
This AMICIE session will be an informal discussion, with Seona Meharg, Michael Dunlop, Deborah O'Connell (CSIRO) and Claudia Munera (ANU) sharing their experiences of the conference, opportunities for further research and new trends in adaptation for sustainable development, conservation and other fields. We will talk of course about VRK, adaptation pathways and learning, and some other topics.
More information about the conference and the program: https://adaptationfutures2018.capetown/
Date: Friday, 25 May 2018
Time: 9.30am-11.00am
Location: Building 8, Coombs Extension, RegNet Lvl3 Meeting Room **new location!**
Discussion leads: Ryan Wong, Deb Cleland
Topic: Dancing across the silos: designing an interdisciplinary conference
Interdisciplinarity is a practice - it takes practice. At the AMICIE forum, we invite you to co-design an interdisciplinary conference with us, including exercises for practising your interdisciplinary skills.
In November 2018, a conference will be held to meet people in the other schools and across the creek. It will be an ANU event that features interdisciplinary work, innovative design, and industry engagement.
Date: Friday, 27 April 2018
Time: 9.30am-11.00am
Location: Forestry Building #48, Room F1.08
Discussion leads: Dr Jonathan Pickering, Dr Lorrae van Kerkhoff, Claudia Munera
Topic: Futures thinking in sustainable development.
How can we anticipate and plan for conservation of biodiversity and sustainable social-ecological systems in the future? What approaches can help us to have flexible governance arrangements, while incorporating diverse knowledge systems and values from multiple stakeholders?
Jonathan Pickering (University of Canberra) will be talking about his work in deliberative democracy as a tool to enable collective reflection and foresight in complex socialecological systems.
Lorrae van Kerkhoff (ANU Fenner School of Environment & Society) will talk about governance transitions needed for future oriented conservation.
Date: Thursday, 29 March 2018
Time: 9.30am-11.00am
Location: Forestry Building #48, Room F1.08
Discussion leads: Dr Steven Lade
Topic: Steve will discuss his experiences in interdisciplinary collaboration and using mathematical modelling approaches that can deal with qualitative data and contingent social-ecological relationships. He will draw on examples from projects past and future including: poverty traps in developing-world agricultural communities, the collapse of the Baltic cod fishery, interactions between the Planetary Boundaries, and development of resilience theory.
Date: Friday, 23 February 2018
Time: 9.30am-11.00am
Location: Forestry Building #48, Room F1.08
Discussion leads: Ayako Kawai, Bronwyn Wilkes
Topic: In this month’s AMICIE Forum, two PhD students from the Fenner School of Environment and Society will discuss methods being used or considered as part of their respective studies in the human ecology of food systems.
Ayako Kawai, a later-year PhD student, will discuss the Trajectory Equifinality Approach and how she has used it to elucidate individual journeys to seed saving practices and external powers that enable or impede these practices in Japan. The approach originated in the field of cultural psychology and is based on systems thinking.
Bronwyn Wilkes, an early-stage PhD student, will discuss her plans to use Q-methodology in combination with in-depth interviews to investigate values, paradigms and practices associated with participation in Community Supported Agriculture in Australia.
Date: Friday, 27 October 2017
Time: 9.30am-11.00am
Location: Forestry Building #48, Room 0.02
Discussion leads: Pele Cannon, Federico Davila, Ben Gleeson
Topic: This session will explore successes and challenges in developing and applying frameworks in the course of PhD research. Three different PhD projects from the Fenner School will be presented — Ben Gleeson has a background in Biological Anthropology, and Pele Cannon and Federico Davila are Human Ecologists. Ben will prompt group discussion around the appropriateness and alternatives of methods he intends to use as part of his fieldwork in West Sumatra next year, including Soft Systems Methodology.
Date: Friday, 29 September 2017
Time: 11.00am-1.00pm
Location: Forestry Building #48, Room F108
Discussion leads: Lorrae van Kerkhoff
Topic: How I explain methodology to my peers/students/partner/children/dog… Exploring different perspectives on the M-word