Helping conservation initiatives turn contagious
New research shows that conservation initiatives often spread like disease, which helps scientists and policymakers to better design successful programs that are more likely to be adopted.In a st
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
Dr. Kostas Alexandridis is a research scientist with the CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems at Davies Laboratory, Townsville. He is studying the interactions and coupling between human and natural systems and their implications to decision-making across multiple scales and knowledge domains in Australia and internationally. His research emphasizes the use of advanced and cutting-edge dynamic modelling and simulation techniques and the study of cognition, information and knowledge flows. His most recent work involves understanding sustainability in marine-based livelihoods in collaboration with a number of remote and indigenous communities across Australia and the Pacific. Kostas received his Ph.D. from Purdue University in USA, where he acquired experience on modelling land use change, sprawl dynamics, and cognitive attitudes to change across a range of local, sub-regional and regional landscapes. He has worked with communities, planners and stakeholders to achieve a common and societal understanding of environmental change as a complex phenomenon from the individual to the global level, and has participated in multi-national and multi-institutional collaborations across the world.
What are some of the most important issues dealing with human dimensions in participatory research related to natural resource management and policy? This talk will look at some new research directions and methodological frameworks that shift the science and research agenda towards more cross-disciplinary settings. The presentation will emphasize the role of participatory modelling (e.g., visioning, role-playing games, scenarios, agent-based modelling) in working with communities and stakeholders. It will also explore a suite of network-based science approaches (social networks, Bayesian belief networks, semantic network and integrative social-ecological networks) allowing the study of complexity in coupled natural and human systems. Some key inferences and heuristics will be drawn upon existing examples and case studies, using graphical, interactive and mathematical simulation software. Finally, the talk aims to demonstrate how principles of sustainability, adaptability, emergence and resilience can be addressed at multiple scales of interaction.
New research shows that conservation initiatives often spread like disease, which helps scientists and policymakers to better design successful programs that are more likely to be adopted.In a st
Millions of people across the globe are suffering from malnutrition despite some of the most nutritious fish species in the world being caught near their homes, according to new research published in
An internationally respected group of scientists is calling on world leaders to urgently accelerate efforts to tackle climate change.Almost every aspect of the environment and ecology is changing
Scientists say bolder actions to protect coral reefs from the effects of global warming will benefit all ecosystems, including those on land.In an article published in Nature today two researcher
Abstract: Because coastal fisheries have been a major provider of food and economic growth in modern human history, the inherent characteristics of fish populations have been studied by researchers f
Abstract Climate change is the fastest-growing global threat to the world's natural and cultural heritage. No systematic approach to assess climate vulnerability of protected areas and their communit
Abstract: This presentation will provide an updated prognosis of the overgrazing collapse of kelp beds driven by the range-extending sea urchin (Centrostephanus rodgersii) and outline antidotes cur
Abstract: Disturbances are fundamental to structuring many ecosystems, yet climate-driven alterations to disturbance regimes may prevent recovery in many biomes. Coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef
Abstract: Outbreaks of the corallivorous Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS; Acanthaster cf. solaris) have been responsible for 40% of the decline in coral cover on the GBR over the last 35 years. With
Abstract: Complex interdependencies between social and ecological dynamics underpin many important environmental problems. To account for these complex dynamics, over the past several years my collea
Abstract: Coral reef restoration is gaining momentum globally in response to the threat of climate change and associated coral bleaching. In Australia, as part of the Reef Restoration and Adaptatio
Abstract:Developing global environmental policies, and implementing these at a local level has proven extremely challenging. I will present research using ethnographic techniques and multi-level
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