Research Interests

Dr Sarah Lawless is a marine social scientist and Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Ocean Governance. Sarah is the first social scientist engaged under the AIMS@JCU partnership program. Under this partnership, Sarah will work closely with Dr Lyndon Llewellyn (AIMS) and Prof. Tiffany Morrison (JCU) to explore a research area of common interest - improving governance of changing oceans.

Sarah’s research looks critically at how marine science, policies and interventions seek to improve fisheries, food systems and coastal environments, and the implications these may have human development outcomes. Her publications in journals including Global Environmental Change, Nature Climate Change and Marine Policy illustrate the tendency for marine governance and associated interventions to prioritise ecological goals without attention to social impacts, including inadequate integration of local perspectives and needs. Sarah’s empirical research in the Pacific Islands region illustrates that even when commitments to addressing social inequities are made in policy and practice, approaches often misdiagnose the underlying drivers of inequity resulting in instrumental and symptomatic responses.

Sarah’s research adds weight to growing calls to improve the way human dimensions are considered and integrated within marine research, policy and practice. Specifically, her research emphasises how social equity, human rights and justice are foundations to sustainable social-ecological systems, and provides guidance to more deeply consider and address such issues. Sarah’s research contributions include insights for small-scale fisheries and climate policies and practices to ensure equitable outcomes for local communities.

Much of Sarah’s empirical research has been conducted in tropical marine social-ecological systems in the Pacific Islands region, including Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Vanuatu. As an applied qualitative social scientist, Sarah has spent the past decade working as an expert consultant alongside a range of non-governmental organizations, research institutions and universities working on equitable social-ecological systems research, policy and practice. Some of these organisations include the Nature Conservancy, WorldFish, the World Wide Fund for Nature and CARE International. Sarah works closely with a network of social scientists and development practitioners to ensure her research is grounded in the realities of coastal communities.

Sarah is a member of the Governing Ocean Change research program and SNAPP group. Here, Sarah joins an interdisciplinary team of scientist, government and non-government experts working toward governance transitions fit for novel and rapidly emerging interventions in climate-impacted oceans.

Staff Links

https://portfolio.jcu.edu.au/researchers/sarah.lawless