Natasha Stacey

Professor, Leader Communities, Livelihoods and Natural Resources Research Group, Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, & Environment Discipline, Faculty of Science and Technology, Charles Darwin University.

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 20 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 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 recently completed research projects include: Women in the Northern Territory Seafood industry; Towards improved livelihoods for Indonesian fishers in Nusa Tenggara Timor Province, Indonesia; Measuring non-commercial fishing catches in the Torres Strait; Tapping into the knowledge of professional fishers to inform research and management of sawfish and river sharks; Encountering Maritime Northern Australia, and Indigenous knowledges and nutritional health and wellbeing benefits and values of seafood for supporting Indigenous fisheries development; and Supporting development of Indigenous Fishing Enterprises in the Northern Territory.

I coordinate three units in CDU Bachelor/Masters Environmental Management courses-   ENV317/517: Natural Resources and Indigenous Livelihoods; ENV513 Environmental Planning and Policy and ENV 521 Community Engagement for Natural Resource Management.

I have supervised more than 20 postgraduate candidates, have more than 50 peer reviewed articles, 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, and rural livelihoods
• Indigenous livelihoods, natural resource management and ecological knowledge
• Small-scale fisheries, aquaculture, and marine conservation 
• 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:

• Nilanjana Biswas (PhD) Changing times, changing tides: Women's engagement in the Northern Territory seafood sector. 

  Nur Isiyana Wianti (‘Yanthi’) (PhD) Gendered Livelihood Vulnerability and Resilience of Sama-Bajo Fishers in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia.