ESS researchers

Staff

(alphabetically)

  • Dr Helena Bender

    Helena Bender is a teaching specialist who is interested in the intersection between social and biophysical systems and the sustainability of the global ecosystem. More information at: Find an expert (University of Melbourne)

  • Dr Ellycia Harrould-Kolieb

    Ellycia is a Lecturer in Ecosystem Governance & Policy. She is an interdisciplinary social scientist and her research focuses primarily on the governance of the global ocean.
    Ellycia Harrould-Kolieb

  • Dr Amy Hahs

    Amy Hahs is an urban ecologist with an established research career investigating how urban landscapes impact the local ecology. Since 1999, Amy has written and co-authored over 100 academic articles and delivered more than 70 talks, lectures and interviews to Australian and international audiences. More information at: Find an expert (University of Melbourne)

  • Professor Tom Kompas

    Tom Kompas is a Professor of Environmental Economics and Biosecurity and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia.
    Professor Tom Kompas

  • Dr Stephanie Lavau

    Stephanie Lavau is a Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Environmental Practice. Her research and teaching focus on social and cultural aspects of environment management, knowledge and governance, particularly in relation to water management and biodiversity conservation. More information at: Find an expert (University of Melbourne)

  • Dr Rose Macaulay

    Rose Macaulay is an Associate Lecturer in Environmental Psychology. Her research explores how people experience and engage with nature, and the psychological outcomes of those experiences.

  • Maddison Miller

    Maddi Miller is a Darug woman whose research looks at ways of knowing Country. She is interested in ways of bringing non-Indigenous and Indigenous sciences together to understand and care for Country, particularly through storytelling.

  • Dr Andrea Rawluk
  • Dr Danny Spring

    Danny Spring is a Research Fellow. His main research interests are in Environmental Economics, with a focus on decision theory applications in biodiversity conservation and biosecurity. More information at: Find an expert (University of Melbourne)

  • Dr Tessa Toumbourou

    Tessa Toumbourou is a postdoctoral research fellow facilitating a collaboration between Australian and Indonesian researchers to identify just, inclusive and sustainable principles for peatland restoration in Central Kalimantan.
    Tessa Toumbourou

  • Professor Kathryn Williams

    Kathryn Williams is a Professor of Environmental Psychology and much of her work focuses on people’s relationships with forests, bushfire and grasslands as well as ‘urban nature’ including parks, gardens and green infrastructure.
    Professor Kathryn Williams

Honoraries

  • Dr Himlal Baral
  • Professor Ruth Beilin

    Professor Ruth Beilin is Honorary Professorial Fellow in Landscape and Environmental Sociology. Her more recent studies have focused on ‘the disaster landscape’: fire, flood, coastal inundation, and drought.
    Professor Ruth Beilin

  • Dr Thu Ba Huynh

  • Adjunct Professor Jim McLennan

  • Dr Peter Morison

    Dr Peter Morison is an Honorary Senior Fellow at the School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences. Pete supports the Waterway Ecosystem Research Group in the Melbourne Waterway Research-Practice Partnership through its social and community engagement program.
    Peter Morison at University of Melbourne

  • Dr Hemant Ojha
  • Dr Rebecca Ford

    Rebecca Ford is a Research Fellow concerned with social dimensions of forest and fire policy and management. She draws on psychological and interdisciplinary frameworks to study people and their interactions with forests and forest and fire management by observing aspects such as values, experience, social acceptability, institutions and decision-making. More information at: Find an expert (University of Melbourne)

  • Professor Rod Keenan

    Rod Keenan has a B. Sc. (Forestry) from the ANU and a PhD in forest ecology from University of British Columbia, with research interests in forests and climate change, forest ecosystem services and forest and environmental policy. He is Chair Of Forest And Ecosystem Science. More information at: Find an expert (University of Melbourne)

  • Dr Prativa Sapkota

    Prativa Sapkota is a research fellow at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is interested in social aspect of forest and fire management.

  • Dr Kate Lee

    Kate Lee is a research fellow in SAFES and a member of the Green Infrastructure Research Group. Much of her work is focused on the role of nature in boosting mood, wellbeing, and productivity for people living and working in cities.

    Dr Kate Lee

 

Graduate Researchers

  • Rebecca Toohey

    PhD Candidate

  • Debbie Gonzalez Canada

    Debbie Gonzalez Canada is a PhD Candidate researching participation in biodiversity citizen science. She investigates how digital technologies (such as apps and digital platforms) are re-shaping knowledge and caring practices of biodiversity monitoring volunteers.
    Debbie Gonzalez Canada

  • Anastasia Gramatakos

    Anastasia Gramatakos is a PhD candidate exploring the ways in which time is conceptualised in social ecological systems and how diverse experiences and expressions of time can be accounted for. She is particularly interested in the diverse ways that time is experienced, expressed and negotiated in urban green spaces.

  • Christopher McCormack

    Christopher McCormack is studying a PhD in conservation psychology, investigating the links between narrative and connection with nature. Chris is the co-founder and managing director of Australia’s first nature connection charity, Remember The Wild.
    Christopher McCormack

  • Gabrielle Miller

    Gabrielle is a PhD Candidate at SAFES. Her research broadly focuses on the socio-political dimensions of land and fire management in southeast Australian landscapes. Gabrielle Miller

  • Oliver Miltenberger

    Oliver Miltenberger is a PhD student at the School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences and the Climate-Energy College. His PhD work focuses on the development of policy and finance mechanisms that enable large-scale ecosystem services markets.
    Oliver Miltenberger

  • Maddy Sbeghen

    Maddy Sbeghen is a PhD candidate and their PhD project explores human-bird interactions and community engagement in the context of threatened migratory shorebird conservation in Australia and Japan, part of the East Asian Australasian Flyway.
    Maddy Sbeghen

  • Kaiwen Zhou

    Kaiwen is a visiting PhD student at SAFES, exploring the interaction between people and urban nature. Her research investigates how people perceive and experience urban nature, as well as how their pro-environmental behaviours are influenced. Kaiwen Zhou

  • Natale Froia

    PhD candidate

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we work and pay respects to elders – past, present and emerging. We aim to work together with Traditional Custodians to develop solutions to environmental problems in genuine partnership, respecting and appreciating their knowledge, culture, history and world views.