UOW is offering a PhD Scholarship on the theme of Collective Weed Management, associated with Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Research Project DE200100234 (Dr Sonia Graham).
Weeds are a major threat to the sustainability of rural ecosystems and industries. They have multiple vectors and easily spread across property and jurisdictional boundaries. This suggests that collective solutions should be more effective than individual weed control efforts. Yet, recognition of the need for collective weed management has only just been incorporated into the latest wave of state and national biosecurity policies in Australia. Biosecurity policies now acknowledge the need for governments to support community-led collective weed management, but there are few meaningful guidelines on how to achieve this.
We know from past research on collective action for other environmental challenges that community-led collective action groups are more likely to be established and maintained if they have working relationships with staff in government agencies. It is also important for staff to recognise that groups need to develop rules that are tailored to their specific social and environmental circumstances. However, there is little empirical research that investigates how government staff create opportunities to support community-led collective action groups and how staff are supported or hindered by the institutional arrangements of the organisations in which they work.
The project specifically seeks to build new knowledge about how governments at local, regional, state and national scales can support community-led collective weed management to inform the next generation of biosecurity, agricultural and environmental policies in Australia. The PhD scholar will be expected to develop and carry out a project that supports the aims of the ARC project to build new theoretical and empirical understandings of the everyday practices of government staff with weed management responsibilities, as well as the institutional conditions within which staff operate. The student will aim to answer the question: how do everyday practices and institutional conditions facilitate or constrain staff from supporting a shift to collective weed management approaches?
The research will primarily involve qualitative research and will focus on policy makers and practitioners who operate in south-east NSW. This is an exciting opportunity to undertake cutting edge research into the opportunities, challenges and tensions involved in biosecurity policy and practice in Australia.
The project will be supervised by Dr Sonia Graham in the School of Geography and Sustainable Communities and ACCESS (Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society and Space). The PhD scholar will be supported through the active research programs of ACCESS, and have the opportunity to interact with other researchers in ACCESS who research social dimensions of weed management (Associate Professor Nick Gill and Dr Jennifer Atchison).
Scholarship Value
The successful candidate will receive a stipend of $28,092 (2020 rate) per year which will be indexed annually for the duration of the award. The duration of the award shall be for 3 years.
Nationality
Both domestic and international students are eligible and encouraged to apply. For international applicants, a fee waiver may be available but is not guaranteed.
Application process
Applicants should submit:
Deadline for applications: August 1, 2020
Informal inquiries about the research can be directed to Dr Sonia Graham, while for advice on the application process, please contact the Faculty of Social Sciences research office.
To be eligible, a student must have completed a Bachelor degree in human geography, sociology, human ecology or a related discipline with First Class Honours, or be regarded by UOW as having an equivalent level of attainment; and intend on undertaking a full-time higher degree by research by January 2021.
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