Frequently asked questions: Research

What are the Centre's key areas of interest?

We have 4 key areas of research interest:

• Agriculture
Key topics include: social dynamics of sustainable agriculture, audit, farmer identities, biological farming.

• Food
Key topics include: local food systems, food utopias, provenance, food sovereignty, food audit systems, eco-labelling, governance, rural development, food waste.

• Energy
Key topics include: energy cultures, energy behaviour (household and business), future transport, social acceptance of renewable energy, Smart Grid.

• Environment
Key topics include: climate change, coastal resource governance, local and indigenous knowledge, community resilience, people-place relationships.

What is the Research culture at the Centre?

The Centre works collaboratively with a variety of academics from within New Zealand and around the world. We have a strong focus on interdisciplinarity in our research. Many of our projects span the social science, science & business disciplines.

What are the Centre's current projects?

The main projects that are currently underway are:

• Climate Adaptive Communities: Principal Investigator Janet Stephenson
• Reconnecting youth with iwi: Principal Investigator Merata Kawharu
• QuakeCoRE. Principal investigator Caroline Orchiston
• National Science Challenge - Resilience to Natures Challenge: Principal Investigator Caroline Orchiston
• Sustainable Seas. Principal Investigator Janet Stephenson

I am looking for collaborators in the area of sustainability. Who should I talk to?

Please refer to our Research pages to see who is currently working in your field. If you are not sure, please contact our Administrative team who will refer you to the most appropriate person.

Who are the Centre's key contacts for research queries?

Please refer to the Staff pages to see each researcher's specific areas of interest. Generally:
• For Agriculture, please contact Karly Burch or Hugh Campbell
• For Food, please contact Karly Burch or Hugh Campbell
• For Energy, please contact Janet Stephenson
• For Environment, please contact Caroline Orchiston (Community resilience), Janet Stephenson (Climate Change), Merata Kawharu (Indigenous knowledge)

How is the Centre funded?

As well as funding from the University, we rely on external research income and are funded by a range of government and non-government sources, including iwi and end user groups. Over the past 6 years the Centre has averaged $1.7 million dollars of external research income per annum.

If I have funding and want to join the Centre as staff, who should I talk to?

You can contact our Director, Janet Stephenson or our Administration team at centre-sustainability@otago.ac.nz to discuss the options.