Dr Karen Vella’s collaborative and multi-disciplinary research involves partnerships and strong use of social science to identify innovative solutions to real world sustainability problems. This research has contributed to the establishment of methods for evaluating social and community resilience, improved understandings of collaborative models of decision making on decision outcomes, and improved understandings of governance risks in the Great Barrier Reef. This work has had considerable influence on state and national policy within Australia and is recognised internationally in fields of science concerned with human and public policy dimensions of environmental decision-making that threaten sustainability. Currently, Karen is part of the Reef Restoration and Adaptation research consortium looking at how to support stakeholder engagement and public participation options to understand the acceptability of technology interventions in the Great Barrier Reef.
Chief Investigators
