Karen Vella
Engagement co-lead
Associate Professor Karen Vella is an urban, regional and environmental planner with an international profile in research planning for climate adaptation, policy systems evaluation and social science in the Great Barrier Reef. Based at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Karen’s work is collaborative and multi-disciplinary, involving partnerships and strong use of social science to identify innovative solutions to reef sustainability problems. Her work has influence on state and national policy and is internationally-recognised in fields of science concerned with human and public policy dimensions of environmental decision-making. Karen previously held research and policy positions with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the community-based Terrain NRM, and CSIRO.
