Leanne Cullen-Unsworth
Cardiff University
Welsh Crucible 2011
Leanne has a B.Sc. in Marine Biology from Newcastle University, a M.Sc. in Marine Environmental Protection from Bangor University and a Ph.D. from Essex University. After completing a CSIRO postdoctoral fellowship in Australia, Leanne returned to the UK to take up a Research Fellowship within the newly formed Sustainable Places Research Institute at Cardiff University. Her role involves the development of a research package around mobilities, flows and migration – of people, resources, water, goods and more –in order to understand the impacts of such flows and implications for sustainability. Leanne’s research focuses on linked social-ecological systems, recently within a terrestrial context (Queensland’s Wet Tropics); but her background is within the marine sciences. Leanne is interested in the threats posed to livelihoods and the economy, food security and lifestyles from a changing global environment. She is also interested in mitigation, adaptation and human behavioural changes and in the development of socio-economically appropriate conservation and sustainable use policy. She is skilled in community engagement and cooperative research and has experience in place-based research/learning approaches. Leanne has had extensive experience working with Indigenous peoples in remote areas of Indonesia and Australia particularly around joint management issues and governance of natural resources.
Leanne continues in her role as Research Fellow in the Sustainable Places Research Institute at Cardiff University. Leanne is also a Director of Project Seagrass, an environmental charity devoted to the conservation of seagrass ecosystems.