Katrina Dickson has been awarded the national prize for the best student paper at the recent Australian Vertebrae Pests Conference (AVPC) in Canberra. Katrina is a PhD candidate in the multidisciplinary invasive species research program being run through the Law School’s AgLaw Centre. Her topic is ‘Natural Resource Management Agencies as Learning Organisations’.
Invasive species, such as foxes, rabbits, and feral cats, are an increasing threat to the Australian environment while also causing significant agricultural production losses every year. There are a number of laws and policies currently being drafted to help meet Australia’s biodiversity convention obligations, but worryingly, the recent Australian “State of Environment Report” has found the laws are not as effective as hoped.
Katrina’s PhD considers how invasive species work units may embed systems of continuous improvement in their management and operations. Through this people may become more effective in working together to achieve environmental outcomes, and at the same time more responsive to ongoing change and complexity in the environmental, social and political contexts in which they operate. Embedding continuous improvement may require changes to leadership style, workplace culture and institutional structures.
As part of her PhD, Katrina has developed a T.O.O.L. to ‘Test Our Organisational Learning’ designed to assess learning status in work units and to identify areas of improvement. Katrina’s research included case studies in a major conservation agency in South Africa, and an invasive species work unit in the NSW Department of Primary Industries in Australia.
“I was really thrilled to receive this award. For a long time researchers and natural resource managers have focused on technical solutions to our invasive species problems, but improving how people engage and collaborate with each other is equally as important. I see this award as a real endorsement of the research I and others are conducting in the human dimensions aspects of invasive species control. The findings of my research as well as the T.O.O.L can be applied within invasive species management, but also more broadly in natural resource management as well as other sectors.
I would especially like to thank the AgLaw Centre, the Invasive Animals Co-operative Research Centre and the Keith and Dorothy McKay Travelling Scholarship for providing funds and other assistance for my work, and my supervisors Assoc Prof Robyn Bartel from UNE and Prof Ted Alter from Penn State University for their ongoing help and guidance.”
Congratulations on receiving this prestigious award Katrina!
