Professor Lorrae van Kerkhoff
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About
Lorrae van Kerkhoff is the Director of the Institute for Water Futures and senior lecturer and Research Fellow at the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society. Her research focuses on understanding the role of science in decision-making for complex environmental issues, especially with regard to preparing for uncertain but different futures. Lorrae is internationally renowned for her expertise in collaborating with stakeholders to generate innovative pathways for transition and transformation.
She holds a PhD from ANU and was a post-doctoral fellow at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health from 2003-2008, and spent 2004-5 with Harvard's Center for International Development, supported by a Fulbright Post-doctoral Fellowship and a Land and Water Australia Travelling Fellowship. While there she worked on the concept of knowledge systems for sustainability, and now focuses her research on knowledge governance and its relationship to social-ecological change. Her work brings together concepts from Science and Technology Studies with Sustainability Science. She has published extensively on integrative and transdisciplinary research concepts and methods, and recently on knowledge governance and ‘future-oriented’ approaches to conservation.
Lorrae’s research and teaching interests include qualitative and integrative research methods, particularly as they contribute to decision-making and action in the arenas of futures thinking, adaptation, sustainability and water. She is particularly interested in the role of science in governance, decision-and policy-making as it relates to sustainability; north-south research collaborations; and institutional influences on the governance of knowledge. Lorrae is currently an Associate Editor for Environmental Science and Policy, and on the editorial board for the journal Challenges in Sustainability. She convenes the Bachelor of Environment and Sustainability degree program at ANU, and teaches first, second and third year undergraduates, as well as supervising graduate students.
I love the interdisciplinary capability and focus on collaboration and partnerships at the IWF. We have a real chance to make a difference here.
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Research interests
My interests revolve around how science gets used (or not used) in decision-making. What other forms of knowledge come into play and how do the rules decision-makers create and abide by shape the quality of the outcomes that result? How do they help us understand and anticipate the future? These questions become even more critical as the pace of environmental and social change accelerates, and post-truth politics contest evidence-based knowledge. While I have enjoyed the opportunity to explore these questions across three continents around the world, I am excited to bring these ideas, questions and challenges closer to home. The Institute for Water Futures is a unique and timely opportunity to rethink how we imagine and create the future of water in Australia and the Asia-pacific region. I love the interdisciplinary capability and focus on collaboration and partnerships. We have a real chance to make a difference.