Seeing social-ecological systems

Thoughts from a forum on ecological resilience

I recently attended a forum on ‘building resilient ecosystems in Victoria’, hosted by the Centre for Integrative Ecology at Deakin University. It was an enjoyable and stimulating forum, and very well-attended.

What struck me most were the different views of resilience between ecologists and non-ecologists, especially around the concept of resilience in ecosystems and/or social-ecological systems. This ranged from simple misunderstanding and different choice of framing, to disagreement and even derision of particular frameworks.

Countdown to Ubuntu 12.04

Climbing a mountain of reading

Like any academic, I have a mountain of reading material to get through. This includes journal papers printed in a fit of optimism, key theoretical texts, reports, and even legislative instruments (these are the most painful of all – e.g. the proposed Basin Plan).

I know all about the importance of writing – I have created a system of post-it-notes which keeps me organised as to which articles are under review, those needing resubmission and papers in preparation (12 at the moment all up).

My reading habits, on reflection, are much less organised. I have various photos of books on my phone that I must read – key theoretical texts in my field spotted on the bookshelves of colleagues. Hundreds of references populate my Zotero library, waiting to be read.

 

 

 

 

The politics of conference posters

I recently had a conference abstract accepted as a poster. I had hoped for a seminar, but it seems that the conference was too popular! My initial reaction was “no way” – I didn’t want to put all that effort in for a wall hanging that nobody would look at. Also, I thought my abstract didn’t lend itself very well to a poster format – no graphs, maps or structures. I felt that politics were at work; that my abstract was relegated to poster status based on reasons other than merit.

The politics of posters

I have always laboured under the impression that posters are a second-rate form of communication at a conference. They’re what you get offered if you can’t get a seminar. They’re what postgraduate students, early-career researchers and the socially awkward get offered. They’re the fall-back option for meeting the requirement that some institutions have to present your work in order to attend. Are these impressions realistic? Does it have to be this way?

World Water Day 2012

Today is World Water Day 2012 – a day designated by the United Nations for raising awareness of freshwater issues and advocating for sustainable water governance. Check out their website by clicking on the banner above – it’s very flashy! Also try out the ‘how much water is on your plate‘ game to see the water footprint and nutritional balance of your meals.

The theme this year is Water and Food Security. This is something I’ve been thinking about recently, as I’m part of the Africa Food Security Initiative - a collaborative research for development effort led by CSIRO and funded by AusAID. I have learnt that pathways to increasing food security are complex, as many issues are interconnected. Sustainable water governance is fundamental to increasing food security, but is only one element of such complex situations.

This interconnectedness can also be an advantage, in that if you improve water governance, you can increase food security, nutrition and ecological sustainability together. Systemic research approaches that encompass all elements of value chains and involve participatory research are best suited to dealing with these situations. A good example of this is Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D), which is a more sustainable model for researching food security in developing countries.

My top ten open source software

I am a big fan of open source software: not just because it is free, but also because I support open software standards and development transparency. Open source software is available under a free license to use, redistribute and modify; the official definition is here. In writing this post, I’ve learnt that the issue of open or closed source is more subtle than I had thought, with pros and cons for each in different situations. Here are my top ten picks of open source software that I use on a regular basis on my netbook.

Editing a special journal issue

Last year I had the pleasure of co-editing a special issue of Water Resources Management. What makes a special issue different to a conventional issue and why publish them? I can think of a few reasons:

1. To aggregate or showcase a collection of articles on a specific theme
2. Challenge the framing/paradigm of conventional journal topics
3. Promote new developments in a field of research
4. Train early-career researchers in editorial processes
5. Provide extra publishing capacity for popular topics
6. Report ideas from a conference or workshop
7. …