Personal details
- Name
- Associate Professor Karen Vella
- Position(s)
- Head of School, Built Environment
Science and Engineering Faculty,
School of Built Environment - Discipline *
- Urban and Regional Planning
- Phone
- +61 7 3138 1004
- karen.vella@qut.edu.au
- Location
- View location details (QUT staff and student access only)
- Identifiers and profiles
-
- Qualifications
-
PhD (University of Queensland)
- Professional memberships
and associations Member of the Planning Institute of Australia
- Keywords
-
Resilience, adaptive management, adaptive governance, Adaptation, climate change, Great Barrier Reef, Environmental assessment, Planning, planning theory, planning practice, Evaluation and monitoring frameworks, flood resilience, community resilience, Urban planning, cities, regions, Collaborative and deliberative governance, Risk governance
Biography
Associate Professor Karen Vella (PhD) is Head of the School of Built Environment.
Karen is an urban and environmental planner with two decades of research and practical experience in community engagement, governance evaluation, strategic planning, and exploring the social aspects of environmental management and restoration problems. A/Prof Vella holds a Bachelor degree in Regional and Town Planing with Class 1 Honours from the University of Queensland and a PhD in Environmental Planning, also from the University of Queensland. A/Prof Vella has also held research and policy positions for the Australian Government (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority), the community-based NRM sector (Terrain NRM), and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). A/Prof Vella has an international and national research profile in research on collaborative governance, planning for climate adaptation, building and measuring social resilience, stakeholder engagement, policy systems evaluation and social science in the Great Barrier Reef. Her work is multi-disciplinary and involves strong use of social science to identify innovative solutions to real world sustainability problems. A/Prof Vella’s work has considerable influence on state and national policy within Australia and is recognised nationally and internationally in fields of science concerned with human and public policy dimensions of environmental decision-making that threaten sustainability. A/Prof Vella has extensive experience of applied research and end-user focused grant delivery through more than AUD $8.2M in external funds for projects at various faculties. This includes extensive experience in developing and applying innovative frameworks to meet the knowledge and planning needs of government and wider industry and community stakeholders. Contact A/Prof Vella for new research opportunities.
Teaching
Current:
Supervisor: Higher Degree Research Student Projects
Guest Lecturer: UXH 331 Environmental Analysis and Planning
Past:
Unit Coordinator and Lecturer
- UXB 131 Imagine Planning and Design (Studio)
- UXB 231 Planning Processes
- UXH 331 Environmental Analysis and Planning
Teaching team
- UXH300 Research Methods
Supervisor
- UXH 400-1 and 400-2 Honours Research Project
Previous Unit Coordination and Lecturing Roles
- Regional Planning Practice (Studio)
- Public Involvement and Community Development
- Natural Resource Management – Governance and Planning
Awards:
- Superior Small Sized Course Award 2011 (Griffith University/Unit Coordinator)
- Head of School Commendation 2010, 2012 (Griffith University/Unit Coordinator)
Experience
Associate Professor Vella provides advice to government as a member of the Human Dimensions Working Group for the Queensland Office of the Great Barrier Reef and the Community Reef Protection Working Group for the Reef Trust Partnership, administered by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
Since April 2017, Associate Professor Vella has also been a Director of the Board of Reef Check Australia, an environmental charity for citizen science and reef conservation.
Associate Professor Vella has more than 15 years practical planning and delivery experience in a range of strategic and regional planning contexts in Australia and Internationally. Previous roles held include:
Manager NRM Plan Wet Tropics, Terrain Natural Resource Management
Project Manager/Acting Manager of Social Science Research and Monitoring, Australian Government, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
Post Doctoral Fellow, Research Fellow, and PhD Candidate, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Planning Officer, Department of Local Government and Planning & Local Government Association of Queensland
Planning Assistant – Department of Main Roads, Brannock Humphreys Planning and Environment Consultants, Cairns City Council, Mulgrave Shire Council.
Publications
- Dale A, Vella K, Gooch M, Potts R, Pressey R, Brodie J, Eberhard R, (2018) Avoiding implementation failure in catchment landscapes: A case study in governance of the Great Barrier Reef, Environmental Management p70-81
- Gooch M, Marshall N, Dale A, Vella K, (2018) Trialling an assessment and monitoring program for the human dimensions of the reef 2050 integrated monitoring and reporting program
- Sipe N, Vella K, (2017) The Routledge Handbook of Australian Urban and Regional Planning, Routledge
- Vella K, Forester J, (2017) Creating spaces for action: Lessons from frontline planners in the Great Barrier Reef, The Routledge handbook of Australian urban and regional planning p302-321
- Gooch M, Curnock M, Dale A, Gibson J, Hill R, Marshall N, Molloy F, Vella K, (2017) Assessment and promotion of the Great Barrier Reef's human dimensions through collaboration, Coastal Management p519-537
- Baresi U, Vella K, Sipe N, (2017) Bridging the divide between theory and guidance in strategic environmental assessment: A path for Italian regions, Environmental Impact Assessment Review p14-24
- Eberhard R, Margerum R, Vella K, Mayere S, Taylor B, (2017) The practice of water policy governance networks: an international comparative case study analysis, Society and Natural Resources p453-470
- Vella K, Baresi U, (2017) Understanding how policy actors improvise and collaborate in the Great Barrier Reef, Coastal Management p487-504
- Potts R, Vella K, Dale A, Sipe N, (2016) Evaluating governance arrangements and decision making for natural resource management planning: An empirical application of the governance systems analysis framework, Society and Natural Resources p1325-1341
- Potts R, Vella K, Dale A, Sipe N, (2016) Exploring the usefulness of structural-functional approaches to analyse governance of planning systems, Planning Theory p162-189
For more publications by this staff member, visit QUT ePrints, the University's research repository.
Awards
Awards and recognition
- Type
- Appointment to State/National/International Reference Group or Government Committees
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- Member of the Human Dimensions Expert Group for the Reef Integrated Research and Monitoring Program (RIMReP) for the Great Barrier Reef 2050 Long Term Sustainability Plan
- Type
- Advisor/Consultant for Community
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- Director on the Board of Reef Check Australia and the Reef Check Foundation, a registered environmental organization and Australian charity focused on engaging people in hands on citizen science and conservation.
- Type
- Editorial Role for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- Editor for the Routledge Australian Handbook of Urban and Regional Planning. This work "the most comprehensive survey of Australian planning that has been produced" (Glesson), brings together over 40 scholars to address critical topics in Australian urban and regional planning.
- Type
- Keynote Speaker/Expert Panel Member/Invited Speaker for a Conference
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- State of Australian Cities Biannual Conference. Keynote panelist on 'urban resilience'
- Type
- Assessor, Examiner or Supervisor Role
- Reference year
- 2016
- Details
- Assessor for ARC Discovery Applications in 2014 and 2016
- Type
- Funding Award
- Reference year
- 2016
- Details
- Catapult Grant. $28,334 Vella, Northdurft, Sloss, Baker, Gibbs 'Monitoring and reducing human impacts on water quality entering the GBR through best practice urban planning and management'.
- Type
- Funding Award
- Reference year
- 2014
- Details
- SEF Learning and Teaching Grant (2014) "The benefits and constraints of planning studio teaching to address complex educational challenges and improve outcomes" $15,000.00
Research projects
Grants and projects (Category 1: Australian Competitive Grants only)
- Title
- Cost-Effective Indicators and Metrics for key GBRWHA Human and Governance Dimensions and Values Linked to Specific Objectives and Targets in the Reef 2050 Plan
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- Start year
- 2017
- Keywords
- Governance Dimensions of Reef Management; Human Dimensions; Indicators; Indigenous Dimensions of Reef Management; Reef 2050
- Title
- Monitoring and Adaptively Reducing System-Wide Governance Risks Facing the GBR
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- 3.11
- Start year
- 2015
- Keywords
- Governance; Outcomes; Policy; Regulation; Risk
- Title
- The impact of governance on regional natural resource planning
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- LP130100933
- Start year
- 2014
- Keywords
- Regional Governance; Land Use Planning; Sustainable Environments
Supervision
Current supervisions
- Risk Governance Analysis of Informal Floating Food Supply System of Metropolitan Dhaka
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Marc Miska - An Evaluation of the Impact on Social Capital of Community Participation in Planning
MPhil, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Severine Mayere