Dr Kirsten Davies

Associate Researcher

Kirsten holds a Master’s Degree (USyd) and PhD (USyd) in Sustainable Management and a Diploma in Fine and Applied Art (RCAE).

In 2002 she was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to conduct research in the USA, UK and Japan, and in 2005 she was the recipient of a USyd Agri-Management Scholarship. In 2009 she was awarded an Australian Government Endeavour Research Fellowship to undertake sustainability research in Vanuatu, and in 2011 she was invited by the European Union and the University of the South Pacific to present the findings of this research to the Human Rights and Climate Change Forum in Fiji.

Kirsten's research has extended to policy development and its practical ‘on ground’ application, and she is the architect of Intergenerational Democracy, a method of whole-of-community engagement and capacity building, published by UNESCO (2008). This method is now being applied internationally and is the subject of her book Intergenerational Democracy, rethinking sustainable development (2012). She is also widely published in refereed journals and conference presentations.

Her applied research has led to many significant projects such as: a review of community education programs; designing a model for behavioural change towards water conservation; and a two-year trial examining the effects of smart meter technology on water usage in a residential context.

Kirsten has been invited by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) as an expert to undertake two roles in the global assessment that will investigate the biodiversity and ecosystem services required to support human well-being across the planet. This assessment, the first of its kind, is aligned with Macquarie University’s  ‘Secure Planet’ research priority. The assessment will be conducted over three years (2015-2018). Kirsten was nominated for these roles by the Australian Government, the International Council for Science and Future Earth, in recognition of her research in coupled human and nature systems.

The IPBES roles are:

1/ Coordinating Lead Author (CLA) for Chapter 2 of IPBES deliverable 2(b) - Regional/subregional assessments on biodiversity and ecosystem services, for the Asia and Pacific region.

2/ As an expert scoping the Global assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem service, which corresponds to Deliverable 2c of the IPBES work programme. This assessment will investigate the status and trends of biodiversity and ecosystem services, the impact of their changes on human well-being and the effectiveness of responses to changes, including the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets.