John Kandulu

Dr John Kandulu

Senior Research Economist

School of Economics and Public Policy

Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics


Born in Malawi, John has over 15 years of work experience as an applied economist in education, not-for-profit and government sectors focusing on natural resource management policy design and evaluation. He has contributed to projects addressing aid for development programs, policy-, program- and project impact evaluation, food and water security, biosecurity, renewable energy policy, outreach services and water quality management. John applies various analytical techniques to inform policy- and investment decisions, including evaluating the effectiveness of new policy-, program- and project options, and the expected net return on prospective investment options. He is familiar with various analytical techniques and software, including cost benefit analysis, spatial data analysis, econometric analysis, investment risk analysis, optimisation and data visualisation. John’s current research area of interest is design and evaluation of effective diversity and inclusion policies to inform inclusive natural resource management.

  • Journals

    Year Citation
    2024 Tefera, Y., Soebarto, V., Bishop, C., Kandulu, J., & Williams, C. (2024). A Scoping Review of Urban Planning Decision Support Tools and Processes That Account for the Health, Environment, and Economic Benefits of Trees and Greenspace. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(1), 48.
    DOI
    2024 Kandulu, J. M., Zuo, A., Wheeler, S., Dusingizimana, T., & Chagunda, M. G. G. (2024). Influence of climate-smart technologies on the success of livestock donation programs for smallholder farmers in Rwanda. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 29(3), 27 pages.
    DOI
    2021 Wheeler, S. A., Zuo, Z., & Kandulu, J. (2021). What water are we really pumping? The nature and extent of surface and groundwater substitutability in Australia and implications for water management policies. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 43(4), 1550-1570.
    DOI Scopus9 WoS5
    2020 Tam, M., Capon, T., Whitten, S., Tapsuwan, S., Kandulu, J., & Measham, P. (2020). Assessing the economic benefit of area wide management and the sterile insect technique for the Queensland fruit fly in pest-free vs. endemic regions of South-east Australia. International Journal of Pest Management, 69(`1), 1-17.
    DOI Scopus1 WoS1
    2020 Kandulu, J., Wheeler, S., Zuo, A., & Sim, N. (2020). The impact of microcredit loans on school enrolment in Bangladesh. Journal of Development Studies, 56(9), 1725-1744.
    DOI Scopus4 WoS4
    2020 Tapsuwan, S., Capon, T., Tam, M., Kandulu, J., Measham, P., & Whitten, S. (2020). Willingness to pay for area-wide management and sterile insect technique to control fruit flies in Australia. International Journal of Pest Management, 66(4), 351-367.
    DOI Scopus4 WoS3
    2019 Dandy, G. C., Marchi, A., Maier, H. R., Kandulu, J., MacDonald, D. H., & Ganji, A. (2019). An integrated framework for selecting and evaluating the performance of stormwater harvesting options to supplement existing water supply systems. Environmental Modelling and Software, 122, 13 pages.
    DOI Scopus14 WoS13
    2018 Kandulu, J., Thorburn, P., Biggs, J., & Verburg, K. (2018). Estimating economic and environmental trade-offs of managing nitrogen in Australian sugarcane systems taking agronomic risk into account. Journal of Environmental Management, 223, 264-274.
    DOI Scopus14 WoS10 Europe PMC3
    2017 Kandulu, J., Hatton MacDonald, D., Dandy, G., & Marchi, A. (2017). Ecosystem service impacts of urban water supply and demand management. Water Resources Management, 31(15), 4785-4799.
    DOI Scopus4 WoS5
    2017 Kandulu, J. M., & Connor, J. D. (2017). Improving the effectiveness of aid: an evaluation of prospective Mekong irrigation investments. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 33(2), 270-291.
    DOI Scopus9 WoS6
    2015 Bryan, B. A., Huai, J., Connor, J., Gao, L., King, D., Kandulu, J., & Zhao, G. (2015). What actually confers adaptive capacity? insights from agro-climatic vulnerability of australian wheat. PLoS ONE, 10(2), 20 pages.
    DOI Scopus28 WoS24 Europe PMC6
    2014 Connor, J. D., Kandulu, J. M., & Bark, R. H. (2014). Irrigation revenue loss in Murray-Darling Basin drought: An econometric assessment. Agricultural Water Management, 145, 163-170.
    DOI Scopus16 WoS12
    2014 Kandulu, J. M., Connor, J. D., & MacDonald, D. H. (2014). Ecosystem services in urban water investment. Journal of Environmental Management, 145, 43-53.
    DOI Scopus32 WoS25 Europe PMC4
    2013 Bark, R. H., Peeters, L. J. M., Lester, R. E., Pollino, C. A., Crossman, N. D., & Kandulu, J. M. (2013). Understanding the sources of uncertainty to reduce the risks of undesirable outcomes in large-scale freshwater ecosystem restoration projects: An example from the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. Environmental Science and Policy, 33, 97-108.
    DOI Scopus20 WoS19
    2013 Kandulu, J. (2013). Are we risking too much? Estimating the risk-mitigating benefit of urban water supply augmentation options. Water Science and Technology: Water Supply, 13(2), 531-540.
    DOI Scopus3 WoS2
    2013 Kandulu, J. M. (2013). Quantifying the extent to which enterprise mix diversification can mitigate economic risk in rainfed agriculture. AUSTRALASIAN AGRIBUSINESS REVIEW, 21, 14 pages.
    2012 Kandulu, J. M., Bryan, B. A., King, D., & Connor, J. D. (2012). Mitigating economic risk from climate variability in rain-fed agriculture through enterprise mix diversification. Ecological Economics, 79, 105-112.
    DOI Scopus51 WoS46
    2011 Bryan, B. A., & Kandulu, J. M. (2011). Designing a Policy Mix and Sequence for Mitigating Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution in a Water Supply Catchment. Water Resources Management, 25(3), 875-892.
    DOI Scopus54 WoS43
    2009 Bryan, B. A., & Kandulu, J. M. (2009). Cost-effective alternatives for mitigating Cryptosporidium risk in drinking water and enhancing ecosystem services. Water Resources Research, 45(8), 13 pages.
    DOI Scopus28 WoS21
    2009 Bryan, B. A., Kandulu, J., Deere, D. A., White, M., Frizenschaf, J., & Crossman, N. D. (2009). Adaptive management for mitigating Cryptosporidium risk in source water: A case study in an agricultural catchment in South Australia. Journal of Environmental Management, 90(10), 3122-3134.
    DOI Scopus29 WoS25 Europe PMC9
  • Conference Papers

    Year Citation
    2019 Parry, H., Capon, T., Clarke, A., Crisp, P., Hulthen, A., Kandulu, J., . . . Williams, D. (2019). Area-wide management guidelines for Sterile Insect Technique developed through interdisciplinary modelling research. In 23rd International Congress on Modelling and Simulation - Supporting Evidence-Based Decision Making: The Role of Modelling and Simulation, MODSIM 2019 (pp. 652-657). online: QUT.
    DOI Scopus2
    2017 Kandulu, J., Thorburn, P., Biggs, J., & Verburg, K. (2017). Estimating economic impacts of controlled release fertilisers in sugarcane systems: An economic risk case study analysis. In 39th Conference of the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, ASSCT 2017 (pp. 251-262). online: ASSCT.
    Scopus3
  • Report for External Bodies

    Year Citation
    2023 Kandulu, J., & Soebarto, V. (2023). Estimating the net benefit of street trees in Greater Adelaide Metropolitan, Australia.
    2022 Wheeler, S. A., Seidl, C., Tingey-Holyoak, J., Zuo, Z., Xu, Y., & Kandulu, J. (2022). The economics and financial benchmarking of Riverland Grape production, and potential benefits of Vitivisor technology (Sep 2022). School of Economics and Public Policy, University of Adelaide.
    2021 Kandulu, J., Bailey, H., & Magnusson, A. (2021). Economic contribution of recreational fishing by Queenslanders to Queensland.
    2021 Crase, L., Kishore, A., Jahangir, A., Cooper, B., Connor, J., & Kandulu, J. (2021). Institutions to support intensification, integrated decision making and inclusiveness in agriculture in the East Gangetic Plain.
    2013 Dandy, G., Ganji, A., Kandulu, J., Hatton MacDonald, D., Marchi, A., Maier, H., . . . Schmidt, C. E. (2013). Managed Aquifer Recharge and Stormwater Use Options: Net Benefits Report (Technical Report Series No. 14 / 1). Goyder Institute for Water Research.
    2011 Connor, J., Banerjee, O., Kandulu, J., & Bark, R. (2011). Socioeconomic implications of the Guide to the proposed Basin Plan–methods and results overview.
  • Theses

    Year Citation
    2022 Kandulu, J. (2022). Improving the social welfare of rural households in South Asia and Africa through effective rural development interventions. (PhD Thesis, University of Adelaide).
  • Position: Senior Research Economist
  • Phone: 83130782
  • Email: john.kandulu@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: 10 Pulteney Street - Nexus 10 Tower, floor Third Floor
  • Room: 314
  • Org Unit: SA Centre for Economic Studies

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