ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au
We focus on understanding and improving complex environmental governance regimes. We draw on the disciplines of political science, public administration, geography, and sociology to explore specific national cases and transnational trends across the US, Australia, Asia, and Europe. This systematic comparative approach is generating important contributions to governance theory and practice, particularly in relation to scale, power, and institutional change. We also work closely with a range of physical, natural, and social scientists and policymakers on inter-disciplinary and applied approaches to environmental governance problems.
Our current research program centers around two main themes:
Principal theoretical contributions to this field emerge out of conducting empirical research on policy and administration in the USA, Australia, and Asia, and focus on the role of inter-agency arrangements, the use of science and stakeholders in decision-making and assessment and planning, and the role of scale in governance. Recent work has involved the development of a Regional Governance Index for assessing the institutional potential of regions. This has led to a new cross-national project analyzing the role of environmental and economic institutions and policy in shaping regional ecosystems, and further theoretical exploration of the governance of governance (‘meta-governance’).
This dimension is concerned with the feasibility of different institutional designs to respond to contemporary environmental issues, such as climate variability and unplanned coastal development. We are particularly interested in how different institutional designs deal with socio-ecological dynamics and the science-policy interface. A recent ARC Super Science Fellowship award funded the collaboration of a team of geographers, planners, economists, lawyers and ecologists on a multi-disciplinary approach to defining and solving the problems and impacts posed by sea level rise, a project which was profiled by The Australian newspaper (2 November 2011) as in the top 10 of innovative collaborative Australian research projects. Key results include papers on dealing with scientific uncertainty in policy, and on transformation of governance systems to deal with heightened risk.
As a political geographer (PhD, University of Queensland), I draw on the disciplines of political science, public administration, geography, and sociology to understand and improve the design of complex and multi-scalar environmental governance regimes. My approach is based on the development of an empirical database of specific national cases and transnational trends across the US, Australia, and Asia. This systematic comparative approach has generated important contributions to governance theory and practice, particularly in the area of decentralisation, regionalisation and risk. I also work closely with a range of physical, natural, and social scientists and policymakers on inter-disciplinary approaches to environmental governance problems.
Philippa Cohen, WorldFish
Cindy Huchery, ARC CoE for Coral Reef Studies and WorldFish
Yasa Belmar, University of Queensland
Eduardo Gallo Cajiao, University of Queensland
Jessica Spijkers, ARC CoE for Coral Reef Studies and Stockholm Resilience Centre
For nearly 50 years, researchers have been stumped as to why sea shells from warm tropical waters are comparatively larger than their cold water relatives. New research, led by the ARC Centre of Excel
Strategic delays in conservation efforts could be the key to protecting more species according to research led by the University of Queensland and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (
Centuries-old nautical charts, mapped by long-deceased sailors to avoid shipwrecks, have been used by modern scientists to study loss of coral reefs. A new US and Australian study – including res
Who cares about the Great Barrier Reef? Many people, and according to a paper published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, some of the most passionately connected
Abstract. Genetic adaptation is often assumed to be too slow to be relevant to the pace of current environmental changes, however, experiments have revealed that corals can respond adaptively to envir
Abstract. Animal ‘athletes’ represent species that function at a higher capacity than average performing species, for any given metric of performance (e.g. sprint speeds or endurance swimming). Tr
Abstract. The Outlook Report is an evidence-based report written by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Preparation for the next Outlook report is underway and we need to arm ourselves with
Abstract. Coral-associated bacteria have been proposed to provide important functions in promoting corals’ success by enhancing nutrition, enabling nutrient cycling and providing resistance against
Abstract. The structure of stakeholder interaction is a critical precursor to the ability to solve complex environmental challenges. The structure relates not just of social interactions, but also of
Abstract. Over the last century, the anthropogenic production of CO2 has led to warmer and more acidic oceans, resulting in increasingly frequent and severe mass bleaching events worldwide. Unless co
Abstract. Abundance patterns in ecological communities have important implications for biodiversity maintenance and ecosystem functioning. However, ecological theory has been largely unsuccessful at
Abstract. Energy is the “fire of life” that animals must judiciously acquire and expend to ensure their own survival, reproduction, and the success of their offspring. Ecological energetics aims t
Partner Research Institutions
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au
