I am currently a lecturer in conservation science and sustainability. Before joining Deakin University, I held serval teaching positions in various universities including Osaka University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Adelaide. I am an environmental and development anthropologist. My research interests are the social dimension of natural resources conflicts (protected areas management), climate change adaptation planning, resilience, sustainable livelihood, displacement and resettlement as well as post-disaster recovery. My research interests also include the values and concepts of land to the traditional landowners, especially for the tangible and intangible values of land.

 Arani Ranawalage Dona

PhD student

I am a Ph.D. research scholar from Sri Lanka with a background in agricultural systems and natural resource management. My research interests include sustainable agriculture, common resource management, local adaptation and resilience, and community-based conservation. My research focuses on developing a participatory systems dynamics model to explore the causes and effects of resilience in small-scale, rural farming systems facing diverse agricultural challenges. Additionally, I aim to quantify the relationships between farmers' resilience capacities and various farm and farmer characteristics. This research seeks to identify key drivers that strengthen the resilience of small-scale farming communities, contributing to more sustainable and adaptive agricultural systems.

  Ben Pederick

he/him

Australia - English

PhD Researcher, School of Communication and Creative Arts, Faculty of Science Engineering and the Built Environment, Centre for Integrative Ecology

Deakin University, Burwood

Transmedia Producer

Email: bpederick@deakin.edu.au

Twitter: @BenPederick

As a transmedia producer and senior factual documentary producer Ben’s work includes films, videos, interactive media, articles, and websites. This practice spans more than 20 years, working internationally and in Australia, across cultures, languages, and borders. His research is prototyping transmedia for community-led climate resilience.

 Salvadi Chetan Kumar

PhD student

Climate change and human intervention have altered the characteristics of hydroclimatic extremes. Precipitation serves as the primary driver of flood mechanisms. Humans adopt structural and non-structural measures to mitigate flood impacts. However, mismanagement can further exacerbate flooding. These interactions between hydrological system and human actions co-evolve over time, making it to model and understand these feedback loops for better resource management. My research focuses on understanding and modeling the impact of human interventions and their co-evolution with the hydrological system.

 Luca Peters

He/Him

English, Dutch, French, German

PhD student

I am a food systems researcher pursuing my PhD at Deakin University in collaboration with the Land Use Futures program at the Climateworks Centre, focusing on sustainable land use and the transition to alternative proteins.

With a Master’s in International Land and Water Management from Wageningen University, I have a strong foundation in analyzing land and water challenges through a holistic lens, integrating physical, technical, socio-economic, and political dimensions.

Over the past seven years, I have worked on diverse projects in water management, sustainable agriculture, and climate change mitigation. As a research consultant for Farm Transitions Australia, I analyzed the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the Australian dairy sector and the role of alternative proteins in reshaping its future. My work with the World Preservation Foundation provided insights into soil carbon sequestration and livestock methane emissions, while my role at the SQNNSW Drought Innovation Hub involved stakeholder engagement and research on drought resilience in livestock farming. My experience at PRACTICA Foundation further strengthened my expertise in irrigation and water management in low-income settings. I have collaborated with ministries, multilateral organizations, NGOs, research institutions, and the private sector across 15 countries.

During the past two years, I have deepened my understanding of the central role of food systems in the interconnected climate change, biodiversity loss and public health crises. One of the most critical things I learned is that land use plays a crucial role in climate change mitigation, with the potential to act as either a carbon source or a sink. Through my PhD, I am eager to further develop my quantitative skills by learning land use modeling and conducting life cycle assessments (LCA) of alternative protein sources. I am committed to making significant contributions to the fields of alternative proteins, land use, and sustainable food systems.

 Peiyue Tu

She/Her

Mandarin, English

Visiting PhD student

Peiyue Tu is a visiting PhD student from Wuhan University in China and is studying environmental science.  Her research focuses on climate change, air pollution, and their combined health impacts. She is particularly interested in developing assessment frameworks to evaluate climate-related health risks on a global scale. Her work integrates environmental geography and epidemiological analysis to enhance the understanding of climate change's effects on public health.

Hoa Vu

She/Her

English,Vietnamese

PhD Candidate

Master of Environment, University of Melbourne

LinkedIn

Pankti Shah

She/Her

English, Gujarati, Hindi

PhD Candidate

Bachelor of Engineering (2014), L.D. College of Engineering, India | Masters of Data Science (2021),La Trobe University, Melbourne.

LinkedIn

Email: p.shah@research.deakin.edu.au

 Tao Hu

He/Him

Chinese, English

Visiting PhD student

I’m a PhD student from Peking University in China. My research focuses on the vegetation dynamics from a social-ecological system perspective and its impact on biodiversity. I am currently leading an 18-month visiting project at Deakin University, aiming to explore the historical and future pressure of land use/cover change on biodiversity in Australia.

 Jingyi Liu

She/Her

Chinese, English

Visiting PhD student

PhD Student, Central China Normal University, China

Email: s224016798@deakin.edu.au

Nicki Kalahroudi

PhD student

Niki studied natural resources engineering- Environmental science at bachelor program and completed her master degree in environmental science- land evaluation and land use planning. She is interested in modelling climate change and land use change on carbon sequestration, soil erosion and water yield for her Ph.D. thesis, however, she is also passionate to gain knowledge about remote sensing and restoration ecology. She mapped land use and agricultural land in Iran using GIS and satellite images such as Quick bird and landsat in Iran.

Xinhao Pan

He/Him

Chinese, English

PhD Student

Exchange student of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands | Master of Natural Resources, Beijing Normal University, China | Bachelor of Geographic Information Science, Bachelor of Computer Science, Yanbian University, China

Linkedin

Google Scholar

Email: x.pan@deakin.edu.au

Xinhao is a PhD student at Deakin University, focusing his research on achieving Net Zero in Australia's land sector. He can use deep learning and data analysis by python. Xinhao has also a keen interest in land system science, sustainable development, and landscape ecology. He likes applying techniques to tackle issues in geography and environmental.

 Navoda Liyana Pathirana

Research Fellow

PhD

My research is focused on interdisciplinary approaches for data-driven policy solutions for healthy and sustainable food systems. At Deakin, I am the project manager on an interdisciplinary research project in collaboration with George Institute, Sydney to develop a comprehensive food environmental impact database and on a project in collaboration with the Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation (IISRI) at Deakin University aimed at developing an automated system to detect unhealthy digital marketing. Before Deakin, I did my PhD on a nutrient-level analysis of the sustainability of food systems.  

Email: navoda.l@deakin.edu.au

 Bhavendu Joshi

PhD student

I am a conservation researcher from India currently enrolled as a PhD student at Deakin University, Melbourne. My PhD is a joint collaboration between Deakin University and Conservation Initiatives — a local NGO from Northeast India, where I also work as a Program Manager.

My research interests broadly encompass a range of fields, including Human-wildlife interactions, Social sciences, Ecology, Species distribution, GIS, and Community-based conservation. For my PhD, I am looking to assess and map key benefits that people derive from the community-managed forests of Northeast India. Specifically, I utilise the ecosystem service concept to untangle the complexities associated with people-nature relationships in the region and aim to explore the synergies and tradeoffs involved in integrating these benefits into regional and national-level conservation planning frameworks.

Email: bjoshi@deakin.edu.au

Dr Fei Guo

PhD student

Works on the project “the optional upgrade pathways of China’s water quality improvement”. His research is trying to develop a high solution model of China’s wastewater treatment upgrade pathways, for the government to make more scientific policies to improve the aquatic environment. He had established a model with accuracy of technique units and 30 m land availability to analyze the life circle economic and environmental costs of various wastewater treatment upgrade pathways. And he is still working on simulation of more water quality improvement patterns.

 Alys Rhiannon Young

PhD student

New approaches to mobilise knowledge and data are needed to tackle the current biodiversity crisis. I am a PhD Candidate in conservation ecology investigating biodiversity modelling, particularly using remote sensing and quantitative tools. My research demonstrates the potential for drawing inference about biodiversity trends in space and time from limited and diverse data with ecological models. I have investigated knowledge collaborations to classify and describe ecosystems, drawing on research and industry data for ecosystem mapping, and elucidating animal population trends in central Australia. My research is underpinned by an aim and passion to support Indigenous-led land management in Australia. More broadly, I am interested in quantitative approaches to ecological modelling, coding, data visualisation, and supporting students in learning of statistical and quantitative methods.