RQF Group

Regional sustainability: social and economic dimensions

2. Home Panel:9 Social sciences and politics

3. Up to three 4 Digit RFDC Codes:3700_45% 3008 35%__3212 20%__

Up to three 4 Digit SEO Codes: 7503 40%__7602 40%_ 7506 20%__

4. Name of Researchers / Level / M/F / FTE / ECR / RFCD Code / SEO Code
1 Margaret Alston / E / F / 1.0 / N / 370000 / 750000
2 Allan Curtis / E / M / 1.0 / N / 300800 / 760000
3 Ian Gray / D / M / 1.0 / N / 360000 / 770000
4 Mark Morrison / D / M / 1.0 / N / 340202 / 720299
5 Kevin Parton / E / M / 1.0 / N / 321202 / 730200
TOTAL

Top Four Publications

Margaret Alston

  1. Margaret Alston (2006) The Impact of Drought on Gender and Power Differentials in Australian Farm Families. In B Bock and S Shortall (eds) Rural Gender Relations: Issues and Case Studies. CABI Publishing, Oxfordshire.

Book held by the British National Library, USA Library of Congress and 11 major Australian libraries (National Library, and Australian universities).

Based on in-depth research undertaken over the period 2003-6, this chapter provides a feminist theoretical lens to analyse the gender and power differentials implicit in the Australian drought experience. After presenting the theoretical framework, the paper presents original qualitative material on the drought experience. By drawing on the voices of people significantly impacted by drought and providing a gendered analysis, this chapter is a significant addition to our understanding of rural life and social relations. The chapter was sought by the editors as an integral part of a compilation on rural gender relations across the world.

  1. Margaret Alston (2006). ‘I’d like to just walk out of here’: women’s experience of drought. Sociologia Ruralis 46 (2), pp. 154-170.

JIF 2.093,Citations: ISI 1, Google Scholar 1.

Journal ranked 5/93 for Sociology.

By contrast with the previous book chapter, this article focuses on the experiences of women in the Australian drought. Using a case study methodology it presents original material drawn from three women who were part of the larger drought study. Using these contrasting cases it presents a very vivid and disturbing understanding of the lived experience of women during the drought. This article was published internationally and drew an immediate response in terms of email comment. It also generated widespread demand for interviews on ABC regional radio across the country.

  1. Margaret Alston 2003. Women in Agriculture: the New Entrepreneurs. Australian Feminist Studies, 18, 41, pp 163-171.

Journal not ISI listed. Citations:Google Scholar 2.

Journal ranked 23/26 in Women’s Studies.

This paper published in 2003 by Australia’s leading feminist journal, resulted from a keynote address to the Australian Agronomy conference. It presents historical data on women who have contributed to Australian agriculture during the 1800s and early 1900s. It then outlines contemporary women who were finalists in the Australian Rural Women of the Year. The paper makes the point that women have always contributed to Australian agriculture in very innovative and entrepreneurial ways despite the perception that agriculture is very male dominated.

  1. Margaret Alston 2004. Social Exclusion in Rural Areas. In Cocklin, C. and Dibden, J., (eds.), Sustainability and Change in Rural Australia, UNSW Press, Kensington.

This chapter provides a discussion of the theory of social exclusion and applies this to contemporary rural life in Australia. The paper identifies significant and rising levels of exclusion among rural dwellers and argues for appropriate interventions and as such, provides a significant addition to knowledge. Included in the book is an additional chapter from Professor Alston on Gender issues in rural areas and the one listed below from A/Prof Gray, also a member of this group.

Allan Curtis

  1. Curtis, A., De Lacy, T. (2001) Landcare in Australia: does it make a difference, in Morris, J., Bailey, A., Turner, R.K., Bateman, I.J. (eds). Managing the environment for sustainable development: rural planning and management. pp.605-623. Edward Elgar, London.Contribution 90%.

The journal paper published in Environmental Management has a JIF1.097, Citations: ISI 16, Scopus 31, Google Scholar 61.

Journal ranked 77/144 for Environmental Sciences.

This publication was selected from all papers in the Edward Elgar journals. This research was the first attempt to conduct a theory-driven evaluation of the National Landcare Program (NLP) and is the seminal paper on Landcare evaluation and heavily cited.Key findings have contributed to important international (Proceedings of OECD Co-operative Research Program Workshop, Nov 2002)and national publications (Dovers, S., WildRiver, S. (eds) Managing Australia’s Environment, commissioned by Land and Water Australiato review policy past 30 years). The research methodology was adopted by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in 2003 to evaluate the $120 million NLP.

  1. Pannell, D.J., Marshall, G.R., Barr, N., Curtis, A., Vanclay, F., and Wilkinson, R. (2006) Understanding and promoting adoption of conservation technologies by rural landholders. Australasian Journal of Experimental Agriculture. 46 (11): 1407-1424. Contribution 15%.

JIF 0.861, Citations: ISIS 0, Scopus 0, Google Scholar 6.

Journal ranked 9/31 for Agriculture, Multidisciplinary.

As leaders in their disciplines, the co-authors drew on sociology, psychology and economics and their research of the past twenty years to propose a unique, interdisciplinary framework that enables others to more readily understand landholder adoption of conservation behaviours. Although published recently, the paper has the highest number of downloads (by subscription) for any paper in this Journal (CSIRO Publishing) in the last 12 months and is at number three for all papers published since 2000. The framework has been widely used, including as the standard within the new Future Farm Industries Cooperative Research Centre.

  1. Curtis, A., Byron, I., and McDonald, S. (2003) Integrating spatially referenced social and biophysical data to explore landholder responses to dryland salinity in Australia. Journal of Environmental Management, 68 (4): 397-407.Contribution 80%.

JIF 1.477. Citations: ISI 1, Scopus 1, Google Scholar 6.

Journal ranked 55/144 for Environmental Sciences.

This research involved an innovative methodology using surveys of private landholders to gather spatially-referenced social and economic data to underpin watershed planning, implementation and evaluation. A Geographic Information System was used to integrate survey data with other biophysical layers to address important theoretical and applied questions. The research approach has been implemented in 11 Australian regions and adopted by the Australian Government as the standard approach. A revised paper was selected as a juried paper from amongst 600 papers at the 2007 International Symposium of Society and Natural Resources. This journal is regarded as the highest quality journal for multidisciplinary research in environmental management.

  1. Curtis, A., Shindler, B., Wright, A. (2002) Sustaining local watershed initiatives: lessons from Landcare and Watershed Councils. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 38(5): 1207-1216. Contribution 50%.

JIF 0.735. Citations: ISI 2, Scopus 2, Google Scholar 13.

Journal ranked 33/57 for Environmental Engineering.

This paper provided a much needed synthesis of research examining collaborative watershed initiatives that drew on my research into Landcare and the work of Professor Shindler and others in the USA. The focus was on identifying lessons for practitioners about sustaining local watershed organizations. This was an important research gap. My research into volunteer motivations (3 papers), burnout (3 papers), gender roles (1 paper), the impact of networks on social capital (3)and agency/community partnerships (2) provided the theoretical foundation for the paper. Findings from this paper were heavily cited in the 2003 Australian Government evaluation of the Decade of Landcare Plan.

Ian Gray

  1. Gray, I. and Lawrence, G. (2001) A Future for Regional Australia: Escaping Global Misfortune, CambridgeUniversity Press, Cambridge. Contribution 50%.

Book held in 121 Australian libraries.Google Scholar 41.

Widely cited, and described by a reviewer as offering ‘… an innovative integration of ideas and perspectives on the many and varied processes affecting rural places, not only in Australia but elsewhere as well’, this book presented the first complete analysis of change in regional Australia from sociological perspectives since the 1980s. Another reviewer said ‘This excellent book carefully analyses the economic, social, cultural and environmental factors relevant to the current situation facing regional Australia...’ The book presented arguments for the rethinking of neo-liberal policies and the consideration of progressive policy options for governments and communities.

  1. Gray, I. and Sinclair, P. (2005) 'Local Leaders in a Global Setting: Dependency and Resistance in Regional New South Wales and Newfoundland', Sociologia Ruralis, 45 (1/2):37-52. Contribution 50%.

JIF 2.093,Citations: ISI 1, Google Scholar 1.

Journal ranked 5/93 for Sociology.

Addressing the problems facing small rural communities, this article provided a critical perspective on literature advocating individualistic solutions to collective problems. By using data collected in Australia and Canada, it compared very different situations in terms of geography and the depth of adjustment problems following economic decline. It considered the extent that local people are able to maintain community distinctiveness amid globalisation and conditions of dependency by examining the perspectives of local leaders and presented a critical view of potentially excessive reliance placed on people who have few resources at their disposal.

  1. Gray, I., Williams, R. and Phillips, E. (2005) 'Rural community and leadership in the management of natural resources: tensions between theory and policy', Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, 7 (2): 125-139.Contribution 33%.

Not ISI listed. Citations: Google Scholar 1.

This paper provided a much needed critique of concepts of leadership and social capital in current analysis and policy development. The growth of landcare and the regionalisation of natural resource management had focused attention on local and regional land management, but as the article argued, this had been done with excessive emphasis on leadership and social capital with insufficient consideration having being given to the inherent tensions between the two. It argued for a more theoretically precise and comprehensive approach to these issues with the introduction of concepts of power.

  1. Gray, I. (2005) 'Challenges to Individual and Collective Action' in Cocklin, C. and Dibden, J., (eds) Sustainability and Change in Rural Australia, UNSW Press, Sydney.Google Scholar 2.

The chapter critiques the approach taken by those advocating the revival of small country towns by means of self-help and leadership on the basis that this approach takes insufficient account of structural factors and the situations confronted by individuals. By 2005, the literature relating the concept of social capital to regional development had oversimplified social capital and taken insufficient account of much earlier research. This article used research going back to the 1970s in addition to recent work to argue for a more realistic and comprehensive view of the situations faced by local communities.

Mark Morrison

  1. Morrison, M.D., Bennett, J.W. and Blamey, R.K. and Louviere, J.J. (2002). Choice Modelling and Tests of Benefit Transfer. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 84(1): 161-170. Contribution 70%.

JIF 1.196, Citations: ISI 11, Scopus 20, Google Scholar 65.

Journal ranked 37/175 for Economics.

The first paper to empirically demonstrate the advantages of using choice modelling rather than contingent valuation for benefit transfer (reusing valuation estimates at a second site). This is because it produces marginal rather than aggregate estimates which can be modified for conditions at the second site. Since this study, using choice modelling for benefit transfer has become the norm, thus it has lead to a shift in industry practice. Twelve further studies have followed to assess the generalisability of its findings (Morrison and Bergland 2006).

  1. Morrison, M. and Bennett, J. Valuing NSW Rivers Using Choice Modelling for Use in Benefit Transfer (2004). Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. 48(1): 591-612.Contribution 80%.

JIF 0.935, Citations: ISI 5, Scopus 7, Google Scholar 10.

Journal ranked 63/175.

Paper describes seven choice modelling studies valuing NSW rivers that demonstrate how to systematically apply benefit transfer in a large scale valuation exercise, and the use of a pooled benefit transfer model to fill in gaps in the experimental design due to budget limitations. The paper added to the literature by demonstrating when benefit transfer is likely to be valid. Results have been used by the NSW government in its water reform process and also by the Victorian government. It was the second most downloaded article in AJARE in 2004.

  1. Blamey, R., Bennett, J., Louviere, J., Morrison, M. and Rolfe, R. (2002). Attribute Causality in Environmental Choice Modelling. Environmental and Resource Economics. 23: 167-186.Contribution 20%.

JIF, 1.223, Citations: ISI 3, Scopus 4. %, Google Scholar 9.

Journal ranked 69/175

A challenging part of designing environmental choice modelling studies is selecting attributes, particularly if respondents perceive “cause-effect” relationships between attributes used to describe alternatives. This may influence weights assigned to attributes and resulting values. The paper describes an empirical test of including a causal attribute, which demonstrates that while including a causal attribute affects values for specific attributes, compensating surplus estimates were unaffected. This is important as values for attributes are often used for benefit transfer. Various strategies for reducing perceptions of causality are discussed.

  1. Mallawaarachchi, T., Morrison, M.D. and Blamey, R.K. (2006) Valuing Land Use Changes Using Choice Modelling. Land Use Policy. 23(3): 323-332.Contribution 50%.

JIF 1.581, Citations: Nil.

Journal ranked 6/52 for Environmental Studies.

This article demonstrates the usefulness of choice modelling for land use management decisions, and is one of the first studies to demonstrate how choice modelling can be used to generate values for alternative land uses. The results demonstrate the value of preserving native vegetation compared to using the area for sugar cane or urban development. The results from this study could be used by local governments or state agencies involved in land use planning. The quality of the study is indicated by its publication the world’s leading land use policy journal.

Kevin Parton

  1. Bi, P., Tong, S., Donald, K., Parton, K.A. and Ni, J. (2002), “Climatic, reservoir and occupational variables and the transmission of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in China” International Journal of Epidemiology 31, 189-193. Contribution 20%.

JIF 4.517, Citations: ISI 3, Google Scholar 5.

Journal ranked 7/98 (2006) for Public, Environmental and Occupational Health.

This paper develops, through regression analysis, a predictive model of the incidence of haemorrhagicfever with renal syndrome (HFRS). This paper quantifiesthe influences of climatic,reservoir and occupational factors on the incidence and potential risk factors of HFRS in YingshangCounty, a low-lying epidemic focus of the disease in China. The results show that rainfall, the density ofmice and autumn crop production were good explanatorsof the incidence ofHFRS. The significance of this work lies in both its methodological contribution as a first application of the method to this disease, and as a guide to public health agencies in China.

  1. Bi, P. and Parton, K.A. (2003), “The El Nino-Southern Oscillation and the historic haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome transmission in China: an early warning system for future epidemics?” Journal of the American Medical Association 289 (2), 176-177. Contribution 40%.

JIF 23.2, Citations: ISI 1, Google Scholar 1. % contribution, 40%.

Journal ranked 3/103 for Medicine, General & Internal.

This paper extends the first(above) by examining seasonal climate forecasts as a potential predictor of rainfall, crop production, density of mice and hence incidence of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, and by extending the results to a wider regional area. The statistical association between these variables was examined, but only weak correlations were found between the major climate predictor, the El Nino-Southern Oscillation and the historic incidence of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. This is pioneering work that indicates possible future lines of enquiry relating climate forecasts to disease incidence.

  1. Bi, P., Walker. S, and Parton. K.A.(2003) “Trends in mortality rates for infectious and parasitic diseases in Australia, 1907-97”, Internal Medicine Journal 33 (3), 146-156. Contribution 30%.

JIF 1.402,Citations:ISI 2, Google Scholar 6.

Journal ranked 40/103for Medicine, General & Internal.

Trends in infectious disease mortality in overall population and in the 0−4 years age group were examined and standardized by sex. Death rates were also studied for: (i) diarrhoea/enteritis, (ii) pneumonia and all respiratory diseases and (iii) tuberculosis. A combination of improved living conditions and access to readily available treatments over the twentieth century played an important role in the reduction of infectious disease mortality in Australia. This paper provides up-to-date and comprehensive information on an important class of diseases, that has been largely overlooked in recent years. The results are directly relevant to health policy makers.

  1. Bi, P., Parton, K.A. and Whitby, M. (2004), “Co-existing conditions for death from infectious and parasitic diseases in Australia”, International Journal of InfectiousDiseases 8, 121-125. Contribution 30%.

JIF 2.062, Citations: ISI 2, Google Scholar 1.

Journal ranked 29 /47 for Infectious Diseases.

This paper raised awareness of the poor quality of Australia’s mortality data. Through detailed examination of death certificates, the analysis reveals that there are often co-morbidities that could more reasonably be considered the real underlying cause of death. The study indicated that the quality of death certificates is less than satisfactory. The findings should be helpful in clarifying the ICD coding rules and, once the data are adjusted, in the development of improved disease prevention strategies.

CONTEXT STATEMENT

History, Strategic Focus and Objectives

The Regional sustainability: social and economic dimensions RQF grouping is a critical part of the Institute for Land, Water and Society at CSU. The focus of the Institute is to undertake“internationally recognized, integrated research which contributes to improved social and environmental sustainability in rural and regional Australia.”

Members of this RQF group undertake strategic and applied research addressingthe social and economic dimensions of rural/regional sustainability. Professor Alston’s research focus is on rural social issues, gender, rural women, rural service delivery and rural practice. Professor Curtis’ research examines the role of local watershed organizations in rural development, landholder adoption of conservation practices, and program evaluation. A/Prof Gray’s research focus is on regional administration and governance, environment and transport. A/Prof Morrison’s research interest is in non-market (environmental) valuation, market-based instruments, technology adoption and cost-benefit analysis. Professor Parton’s research interests are risk management, decision analysis, research management and economic evaluation. There are important common threads running through these research agendas. For example, Professors Alston, Curtis, Morrison and Parton are engaged in research examining the social and economic impacts of drought: Prof Alston is examining the impacts of drought on rural families; Prof Curtis, landholder adaptation to drought and climate change; A/Prof Morrison, methods for valuing the impacts of climate change; andProf Parton, regional health issues arising from Climate change.