Shannon Evenden
Higher Degree by Research Candidate
School of Biological Sciences
Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology
Shannon is dedicated to fostering nature-positive innovations and behaviours by addressing the needs of primary producers. Her researcher focuses on how agri-environment schemes, such as the Nature Repair Act, can meet both social and ecological requirements. It is a multi-disciplinary project, working directly with landholders, and employing qualitative and quantitative social sciences, as well as spatial and economic modelling.
This research builds on five years of hands-on experience in catalysing the adoption of nature-positive innovations and behaviour within primary industry. Shannon was the lead officer for the National Feral Deer Action Plan, hosted by Primary Industries South Australia through the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions. In this role, she collaborated with individual landholders, groups, and agencies to design and implement feral deer management plans for landscape-scale environmental benefits. Prior to this, she was a research officer with fishers and aquaculture managers in the Southern Bluefin Tuna Industry, facilitating the adoption of new technology for more sustainable outcomes.
Shannon is an experienced science communicator. She has a radio program on Radio Adelaide and is a weekly guest on ABC. She collaborates with artists in the production of science-informed art. Some of her projects include the coordination the scientists in the largest known Australian science/arts collaboration and the role science advisor and creative collaborator for the development of Nudibranch Night performed on the Eyre Peninsula ocean for over 2,000 people. Shannon also engages in public science communication with notable panel discussion appearances in the Planet Talks for WOMADelaide, and in the Nature Festival.
The title of my thesis is: How can carbon and nature markets work within a complex, place-based social-ecological reality? Integrating the social, economic and ecological perspective.
My research explores the connections between people and the environment, upholding the blurred and ambiguous line distinguishing the two. I am interested in problem-solving challenges and generating suggestions relevant to the real-world, taking a multi-disciplinary and participatory knowledge generation approach in an attempt to work with complexity, as opposed to reducing it. In my thesis I use qualitative and quantitative social science methods, as well spatial and economic modelling – generating priority restoration model that integrates the social, ecological and economic perspective for the study region. As such, this research can be said to fall into realms of political ecology, human geography, restoration ecology and applied science.
Outside of my academic output, I am a keen and passionate science communicator. I have had a weekly radio program on Radio Adelaide for the past 8 years and was a weekly guest on ABC for five. Leaving the radio studio, I enjoy hosting panel discussions, most notably hosting a Planet Talk in WOMADelaide, and in the Nature Festival. Beyond talk-based mediums, I collaborate with artists in the production of science-informed art, with some of my projects including the coordination the scientists in the largest known Australian science/arts collaboration and Nudibranch Night performed on the Eyre Peninsula for over 2,000 people. My science communication approach is embodied by fun and curiosity. The world is wonderful and absurd, why not marvel in it.
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