Natasha Stacey

Associate Professor, Leader Communities, Livelihoods and Natural Resources Research Group, Environment, Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, College of Engineering, IT and Environment, Charles Darwin University.

CDU ECR Coordinator, Research and Research Training

SUMMARY OF EXPERTISE

I am a social scientist with a PhD in anthropology and more than two decades of experience in research and development projects in natural resource management across the Asia-Pacific region. For the last 16 years I have worked in the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods at Charles Darwin University (CDU). My PhD research focussed on Indonesian and Bajo Fishing in Australian waters and I previously worked in the Pacific Islands at the South Pacific Regional Environment Program.

I lead a multidisciplinary group of scientists and postgraduate scholars working on natural resource management, livelihood and food security projects in northern Australia and Southeast and mainland Asia. Our research aims to produce knowledge to enhance the livelihoods and wellbeing of Indigenous and local communities, while maintaining resource sustainability in Northern Australia and the Asia Pacific region, in particular, Indonesia and Timor Leste.

Current and past research projects and consultancies have included: Tapping into the knowledge of professional fishers to inform research and management of sawfish and river sharks (Our Marine Parks Grant); An investigation of Indigenous knowledges and nutritional health and wellbeing benefits and values of seafood for supporting Indigenous fisheries development (FRDC); Supporting development of Indigenous Fishing Enterprises in the Northern Territory; Small-scale fisheries in Indonesia: benefits to households, the roles of women, and opportunities for improving livelihoods (ACIAR); Social Impacts of Small Scale Artisanal Mining (DFAT); Social Impact Study of the Bradshaw Field Training Area (Department of Defence); Improving coastal livelihoods and fisheries management in the cross -border regions of the Arafura-Timor Seas region (CDU).

I teach a Bachelor/Masters Environmental Management units ENV317/517 on “Natural Resources and Indigenous Livelihoods’ focused on practical skills for enabling livelihood diversification in different Indigenous and developing country contexts. I am also the Unit Coordinator for ENV513 "Environmental Planning and Policy.

I have supervised more than 20 postgraduate candidates have more than 50 peer reviewed publications, including in high impact journals, and have co-authored books and book chapters, and numerous technical reports. My areas of research expertise span a broad array of countries, social science disciplines and topics within the field of Environment and Livelihoods but with a strong focus on Northern Australia, eastern Indonesia and Timor Leste.

AREAS OF RESEARCH INTERESTS AND EXPERTISE

• Sustainable livelihoods and diversification for rural people.
• Gender, food security, traditional food systems and rural livelihoods
• Indigenous livelihoods, natural resource management and ecological knowledge
• Small-scale fisheries, aquaculture, marine conservation and food security
• Applied anthropology, social impact assessment, socio-economic surveys and participatory action research 

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

2000   Doctor of Philosophy (Anthropology), Northern Territory University

1992   Graduate Diploma of Museum Curatorship (Distinction), James Cook University.

1989   Bachelor of Arts, University of Melbourne.

CURRENT HDR SUPERVISION/PROJECTS:

• Jenny House (PhD CDU) Principal Supervisor, Community-based fisheries management through a gender lens: examining gendered participation in fisheries management and monitoring in Timor-Leste’, with D. Kleiber, NOAA/WorldFIsh, and D. Steenbergen, Uni of Wollongong
• Kimberley Hunnam (PhD CDU/ANU) Principal Supervisor. Ecological, social and food-security dimensions of Timor-Leste’s sardine fishery. Co–supervisor D. Mills (WorldFish/JCU). 
• Lucinda Middleton (PhD) Primary Supervisor, Gendered nutritional and food security in mangroves and aquaculture in Indonesia for improved management. Co-Supervisor; J. Brimblecombe, Monash University
• Clement Bresson (PhD ANU) Principal supervisor, Designing appropriate business models and implementations strategies to support development of remote Indigenous seafood enterprises, Co-Supervisors, J. Mika, Massey university, & A. Thomassin, ANU.
• Beau Cubillo (PhD Monash) Co- supervisor. Indigenous knowledges and nutritional health and wellbeing benefits and values of seafood with J Brimblecombe (Monash University).