Associate Professor Carina Wyborn
Areas of expertise
- Sociology And Social Studies Of Science And Technology 160808
- Sociological Methodology And Research Methods 160807
- Environment Policy 160507
- Conservation And Biodiversity 050202
- Natural Resource Management 050209
- Environmental Management 050205
Research interests
- Science, politics and policy of environmental futures
- Co-production of science, policy and society
- Foresight, futures thinking
- Decision making under uncertainty
- Adaptive and anticipatory governance
Biography
Carina is an interdisciplinary social scientist with background in science and technology studies, and human ecology. Her research focuses on understanding how decisions are made in complex and contested environmental governance and management challenges. This entails research in three main areas:
- The processes and practices of collaboration across the science-policy-practice interface;
- The scientific and governance processes that underpin how land and water management agencies address environmental change;
- The capacities, methods, and practices that enable futures thinking in environmental decision-making.
Carina's current research focuses on climate adaptation, water governance, and biodiversity conservation in the Murray-Darling Basin, the Australian Alps, and the Western United States.
After completing her PhD at the ANU in 2013, Carina worked internationally, in the United States, Colombia and Switzerland, working with government and non-government organisations. Many of these collaborations directly contributed to management and policy at local, regional, and national scales of decision-making. Notably, Carina co-led the Biodiversity Revisited Initiative a two-year collaboration that involved over 300 contributors from 46 countries to critically examine the status of biodiversity research, policy, and practice. In 2022, she was awarded the Society for Conservation Biology's early career award for outstanding contribution to the conservation social sciences.
Carina returned to the ANU in 2020 with an ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award, which involves research on foresight practices and anticipatory governance to enable stakeholders to negotiate pathways for climate adaptation within water reform in the Murray Darling Basin. She is a contributor to the ANU High Country Research Initiative, where Carina’s research is examining how protected area management and policy is grappling with ecological transformation associated with snowgum die-back.
Researcher's projects
Current Projects
- Building capacity to adapt to a more variable water future in Northern Victoria (2023-2024)
- Understanding snowgum die-back for effective and integrated management (2023-2028)
- Foresight in times of disruption: Advancing the theory and practice of adaptive governance in the Murray Darling Basin (2020-2024)
- Identity, ownership and place in the Northern Murray-Darling Basin (2022-2023)
Past Projects
- Relational values of the Murray-Darling Basin (2022)
- Biodiversity Revisited (2018-2020)
- Co-Management of Wildfire Risk Transmission (2017-2021)
- Futures thinking at the food-energy water nexus (2017)
- Transforming conservation science (2016-2020)
- Conservation Futures (2015-2018)
- Climate vulnerability and adaptive capacity in the US Interior West (2013-2015)
Current student projects
- Navigating transformation - futures thinking in water governance (Carla Alexandra, PhD, ANU)
- Freshwater conservation targets in a changing climate (Fatima Tanveer, PhD, ANU)
- Adressing uncertainty through adaptive governance in relation to town water security (Leila Noble, PhD, ANU)
- Resisting, Accepting and Directing trade-offs: Examing tribal and community engagement within the RAD framework (Carloine Bean, PhD, University of Montana)
- Designing effectivey foresight processes to anticipate and prepare for climate change in the Murray-Darling Basin (Camaria Holder, PhD, ANU)
- Building futures literacy for adaptation, cohesion and resilience in the face of challenges: lessons for the water sector (Stephanie Rosestone, MPhil, ANU)
- How can conservation managers manage current and future ecological transformation (Isobel Bender, Honours, ANU)
Past student projects
- Embracing subjectivity: learning, imaginaion, creativity and the capacity to use the future for transformational change in water governance (Stephanie Rosestone, Post-Graduate Coursework thesis, ANU)
- The role of communities in building regional resilience: A case study of the Goulburn-Murray Resilience Strategy (Ruby Olsson, Honours, ANU)
- Raising the Dam wall, "a pawn in a political game": exploring environmental emotions in the context of the Wyangala Dam (Zoe Duffin-Pruksapun, Honours, ANU)
- Through the "perfect storm": a discourse analysis of the 2018-2019 Menindee fish kills (Sumithri Venketasubramanian, Honours, ANU)
- Narratives of adaptation for future-oriented conservation (Claudia Munera-Roland, PhD, ANU)
- Navigating extreme climate events: Uncovering the challenges of social-ecological system governance in the anthropocene (Amber Datta, PhD, University of Montana & James Cook University)
- The role of uncertainty in determining the Murray Darling Basin Sustainable Diversion Limites (Leila Noble, Honours, ANU)
- Organizational influence on the co-producton of fire science for management application (Evora Glenn, Masters, University of Montana)
Publications
- Munera Roldan, C, Colloff, M, Locatelli, B et al. 2022, 'Engaging with the future: framings of adaptation to climate change in conservation', Ecosystems and People, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 174-188.
- Miller, B, Yung, L, Wyborn, C et al. 2022, 'Re-Envisioning Wildland Fire Governance: Addressing the Transboundary, Uncertain, and Contested Aspects of Wildfire', Fire, vol. 5, no. 2.
- Chambers, J, Wyborn, C, Klenk, N et al. 2022, 'Co-productive agility and four collaborative pathways to sustainability transformations', Global Environmental Change, vol. 72, pp. 1-17.
- Louder, E, Wyborn, C, Cvitanovic, C et al. 2021, 'A synthesis of the frameworks available to guide evaluations of research impact at the interface of environmental science, policy and practice', Environmental Science and Policy, vol. 116, pp. 258-265.
- Colloff, M, Gorddard, R, Abel, N et al. 2021, 'Adapting transformation and transforming adaptation to climate change using a pathways approach', Environmental Science and Policy, vol. 124, pp. 163-174.
- Cvitanovic, C, Wyborn, C, Glenn, E et al. 2021, 'Ten Considerations for Research Funders Seeking to Enhance Knowledge Exchange and the Impact of Marine Science on Policy and Practice', Frontiers in Marine Science, vol. 8.
- Tambe, S, French, L, Wyborn, C et al. 2021, 'India's Environmental Policy Standoff: Reimagining Stakeholder Engagement Spaces', International Forestry Review, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 219-229.
- Wyborn, C, Louder, E, Harfoot, M et al. 2021, 'Engaging with the science and politics of biodiversity futures: a literature review', Environmental Conservation, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 8-15.
- Patterson, J, Wyborn, C, Westman, L et al. 2021, 'The political effects of emergency frames in sustainability', Nature Sustainability.
- Wyborn, C, Montana, J, Kalas, N et al. 2021, 'An agenda for research and action toward diverse and just futures for life on Earth', Conservation Biology, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 1086-1097.
- Chambers, J, Wyborn, C, Ryan, M, et al. 2021, 'Six modes of co-production for sustainability', Nature Sustainability, vol. 4, pp. 983-986.
- Jagannathan, K, Arnott, J, Wyborn, C et al. 2020, 'Great expectations? Reconciling the aspiration, outcome, and possibility of co-production', Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, vol. 42, pp. 22-29.
- Turnhout, E, Metze, T, Wyborn, C et al. 2020, 'The politics of co-production: participation, power, and transformation', Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, vol. 42, pp. 15-21pp.
- Mach, K, Lemos, M, Meadow, A et al. 2020, 'Actionable knowledge and the art of engagement', Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, vol. 42, pp. 30-37.
- Gallagher, L, Kopainsky, B, Bassi, A et al. 2020, 'Supporting stakeholders to anticipate and respond to risks in a Mekong river water-energy-food nexus', Ecology and Society, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 1-16.
- Dewulf, A, Klenk, N, Wyborn, C et al. 2020, 'Usable environmental knowledge from the perspective of decision-making: the logics of consequentiality, appropriateness, and meaningfulness', Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, vol. 42, pp. 1-6.
- Louder, E & Wyborn, C 2020, 'Biodiversity narratives: Stories of the evolving conservation landscape', Environmental Conservation, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 351-359.
- Clement, S, Gonzalez, A & Wyborn, C 2020, 'Understanding Effectiveness in its Broader Context: Assessing Case Study Methodologies for Evaluating Collaborative Conservation Governance', Society and Natural Resources, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 462-483.
- Clifford, K, Yung, L, Travis, W et al. 2020, 'Navigating Climate Adaptation on Public Lands: How Views on Ecosystem Change and Scale Interact with Management Approaches', Environmental Management, vol. 66, no. 4, pp. 614-628.
- Miller, C & Wyborn, C 2020, 'Co-production in global sustainability: Histories and theories', Environmental Science and Policy, vol. 113, pp. 88-95.
- Norström, A, Cvitanovic, C, Lof, M et al. 2020, 'Principles for knowledge co-production in sustainability research', Nature Sustainability, vol. 3, pp. 182-190.
- Yung, L, Louder, E, Gallagher, L et al. 2019, 'How Methods for Navigating Uncertainty Connect Science and Policy at the Water-Energy-Food Nexus ', Frontiers in Environmental Science, vol. 7, pp. 1-17.
- Moon, K, Blackman, D, Adams, V et al. 2019, 'Expanding the role of social science in conservation through an engagement with philosophy, methodology, and methods', Methods in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 294-302.
- Mansourian, S, Parrotta, J, Balaji, P et al. 2019, 'Putting the pieces together: Integration for forest landscape restoration implementation', Land Degradation and Development, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 419-429pp.
- Guerrero, A, Bennett, N, Wilson, K et al. 2018, 'Achieving the promise of integration in social-ecological research: A review and prospectus', Ecology and Society, vol. 23, no. 3.
- Pitt, R, Wyborn, C, Page, G et al. 2018, 'Wrestling with the complexity of evaluation for organizations at the boundary of science, policy, and practice', Conservation Biology, vol. 32, no. 5, pp. 998-1006pp.
- Bednarek, A. T., Wyborn, C., Cvitanovic, C., et al. 2018. Boundary spanning at the science–policy interface: the practitioners’ perspectives. Sustainability Science. doi:10.1007/s11625-018-0550-9.
- Elliott, L, Ryan, M & Wyborn, C 2018, 'Global patterns in conservation capacity development', Biological Conservation, vol. 221, pp. 261-269pp.
- Fazey, I, Schapke, N, Caniglia, G et al 2018, 'Ten essentials for action-oriented and second order energy transitions, transformations and climate change research', Energy Research & Social Science, vol. 40, pp. 54-70pp.
- Lemos, M, Arnott, J, Ardoin, N et al. 2018, 'To co-produce or not to co-produce', Nature Sustainability, vol. 1, no. 12, pp. 722-724.
- Lim, M, Søgaard Jørgensen, P & Wyborn, C 2018, 'Reframing the sustainable development goals to achieve sustainable development in the Anthropocene - a systems approach', Ecology and Society, vol. 23, no. 3.
- Pettibone, L, Blättel-Mink, B, Balázs, B et al. 2018, 'Transdisciplinary Sustainability Research and Citizen Science: Options for Mutual Learning', GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 222-225.
- Wyborn, C, Louder, E, Harrison, J et al. 2018, 'Understanding the Impacts of Research Synthesis', Environmental Science and Policy, vol. 86, pp. 72-84.
- Bennett, N, Roth, R, Klain, S et al. 2017, 'Conservation social science: Understanding and integrating human dimensions to improve conservation', Biological Conservation, vol. 205, pp. 93-108.
- Colloff, M, Martín-López, B, Lavorel, S et al. 2017, 'An integrative research framework for enabling transformative adaptation', Environmental Science and Policy, vol. 68, pp. 87-96.
- Murphy, D, Yung, L, Wyborn, C et al. 2017, 'Rethinking climate change adaptation and place through a situated pathways framework: A case study from the Big Hole Valley, USA', Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 167, no. 8, pp. 441-450pp.
- Page, G, Wise, R, Lindenfeld, L et al. 2016, 'Co-designing transformation research: lessons learned from research on deliberate practices for transformation', Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, vol. 20, pp. 86-92pp.
- Wyborn, C, Van Kerkhoff, L, Dunlop, M et al. 2016, 'Future oriented conservation: knowledge governance, uncertainty and learning', Biodiversity and Conservation, vol. 25, no. 7, pp. 1401-1408.
- Murphy, D, Wyborn, C, Yung, L et al. 2016, 'Engaging Communities and Climate Change Futures with Multi-Scale, Iterative Scenario Building (MISB) in the Western United States ', Human Organization, vol. 75, no. 1, pp. 1-14.
- Wyborn, C 2015, 'Co-productive governance: A relational framework for adaptive governance', Global Environmental Change - Human and Policy Dimensions, vol. 30, pp. 56-67.
- Wyborn, C & Bixler, R 2013, 'Collaboration and nested environmental governance: Scale dependency, scale framing, and cross-scale interactions in collaborative conservation', Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 123, pp. 58-67.
- Wyborn, C, Jellinek, S & Cooke, B 2012, 'Negotiating multiple motivations in the science and practice of ecological restoration', Ecological Management and Restoration, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 249-253.
- Wyborn, C 2011, 'Landscape scale ecological connectivity: Australian survey and rehearsals', Pacific Conservation Biology, vol. 17, no. 1-2, pp. 121-131.
- Cleland, D & Wyborn, C 2010, 'A Reflective Lens: Applying Critical Systems Thinking and Visual Methods to Ecohealth Research', EcoHealth, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 414-424.
- Wyborn, C & Cleland, D 2010, 'Fences and Windows: Using Visual Methods to Explore Conflicts in Land and Seascape Management', in Valerie Brown, John Harris, Jacqueline Russell (ed.), Tackling Wicked Problems: Through the Transdisciplinary Imagination, Earthscan Publications Ltd, London, UK and Washington DC, USA, pp. 161-170.
- Wyborn, C 2009, 'Managing change or changing management: climate change and human use in Kosciuszko National Park', Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 16, pp. 208-217.
Projects and Grants
Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.
- One Basin CRC Tier 1 Partner Agreement (Secondary Investigator)
- Foresight: Anticipatory decision-making in water resource management (Primary Investigator)
- Wildlife corridor projects and initiatives (Compendium and socio-economic factors) (Primary Investigator)
- Mainstreaming climate adaptation into nature conservation management and policy. (Primary Investigator)
- Cross-tenure landscape management (Primary Investigator)
