*The PHXchange is a founding member of the KTA Network

Join the Knowledge to Action Network as we learn, debate and discuss how, why and what ANU staff are doing to enable research impact.

This year we have a variety of speakers who will be sharing their experiences and their approaches to supporting and achieving research impact. The series seeks to provoke discussion and provide the opportunity to share our collective learnings.

March:

Research on politically tough topics

Our second conversation for 2022 is with Professor Jamie Pittock from the Fenner School of Environment and Society, and will be hosted by Dr Wendy Russell, a research fellow in the Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program.

As a geographer, Jamie works on politically contentious issues about who gets what resources (especially water) under what circumstances, and who misses out and why. Jamie and Wendy will talk about the obligations of university researchers in ensuring that research is useful for society, and in publicly communicating research in decision making forums where the findings may be applied. Jamie will introduce the ‘advocacy with excellence’ code that he has found useful when communicating about politically tough topics and will use examples from the Murray-Darling Basin to illustrate.

Join us as we learn more and open up discussion on ways we have each tried, and maybe failed, to navigate the difficulties of conducting research that can have impact on politically tough topics.

Speakers

Dr Jamie Pittock is Professor in the Fenner School of Environment and Society. His research from 2007 has focussed on better governance of the interlinked issues of water management, energy and food supply, responding to climate change and conserving biological diversity. Jamie directs research programs on irrigation in Africa, hydropower and food production in the Mekong region, and sustainable water management in the Murray-Darling Basin. Among other roles, he is acting Director of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and is a scientific adviser to TNC and WWF in Australia.

Dr Wendy Russell is a transdisciplinary pracademic. She is currently a research fellow in the Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program at the Australian National University, working on social dimensions of energy transition. Wendy is also an engagement practitioner and director of Double Arrow Consulting, which specialises in deliberative engagement. Wendy previously worked in the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Innovation, Science and Research, and before that as an academic at the University of Wollongong.