Dr. Carina Wyborn

Biography

Carina Wyborn is an interdisciplinary social scientist with a background in science and technology studies and human ecology. Her research focuses on understanding decisions made in complex and contested environmental governance and management challenges. Key areas of her research include processes and practices of collaboration at the science-policy-practice interface, as well as the scientific governance processes that underpin land and water management agencies addressing environmental change. Currently, she is investigating climate adaptation, water governance, and biodiversity conservation in regions such as the Murray-Darling Basin and the Australian Alps, alongside work in the Western United States. Having completed her PhD at the Australian National University in 2013, Carina has experience working internationally in various roles with both governmental and non-governmental organizations. Her collaborations have informed management and policy at local, regional, and national scales. She co-led the Biodiversity Revisited Initiative, which critically examined the status of biodiversity research, policy, and practice with contributions from 300 contributors across 46 countries. In 2022, Carina received the Society for Conservation Biology's early career award for her outstanding contributions to conservation in the social sciences. Upon returning to ANU in 2020, she was awarded the ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award, focusing on practices of anticipatory governance to enable stakeholders in negotiating pathways for climate adaptation and water reform in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Research Interests

Experience