I completed a BA (Honours) in Geography at Curtin University, Perth in 1993 and I then joined JCU (Townsville) as an Associate Lecturer at which time I also embarked on my PhD in Sustainable Development.  I stayed at JCU until 2000 when I moved to Canberra to take up a position with the Bureau of Rural Sciences (BRS) (Commonwealth Government) where I was involved in developing NRM (natural resource management) socio-economic indicators and researching the adoption of sustainable land management practices.  I completed my PhD in 2002 which was also about the time I left BRS and Australia to return to Scotland to take up a three-year post-doctoral research position at the University of St Andrews.  When this finished I stayed on at St Andrews to establish their undergraduate degree program in Sustainable Development.  I returned to Australia in 2006 and then spent nearly six years as a Lecturer of Environmental Social Science at the University of Western Australia before returning to JCU (Cairns) at the start of 2012 to establish and coordinate the Bachelor of Sustainability.  My research uses a variety of social science methodologies to deliver sustainable outcomes – particularly at local and regional levels and in natural resource dependent communities.  I have published widely in these fields and more broadly in geography and the environmental sciences. 

Teaching

• EV1011: Introduction to Sustainability (Level 1; CNS)
• EV2008: Environmental Management Systems in Practice (Level 2; CNS & TSV)
• EV2011: The Case for Sustainability (Level 2; CNS)
• EV3004: Corporate Social Responsibility in Practice (Level 3; CNS & TSV)
• EV3011: Sustainability in Practice (Level 3; CNS & TSV)
• EV5015: Sustainability in Practice (Level 5; CNS & TSV)

Interests

Research

• Research areas include: Sustainability and Sustainable Development; environmental social science; natural resource management; education services (university and government); community and stakeholder engagement; triple-bottom line (economic, social, ecological) assessment; regional development; social impact assessment; community capacity (human, social, institutional, cultural) profiling; waterways management and planning; socio-economic indicator and framework development; cultural heritage and sense of place assessments; disaster impact assessment.

Experience

• 2012 to present - Senior Lecturer - Sustainability, James Cook University (Cairns, QLD, Australia)
• 2007 to 2012 - Assistant Professor, University of Western Australia (Albany, WA, Australia)
• 2006 to 2007 - Principle Social Scientist - Sustainability, URS Consulting Pty Ltd (Perth, WA, Australia)
• 2006 - Lecturer, Curtin University (Perth, WA, Australia)
• 2002 to 2006 - Senior Teaching/Research Fellow, University of St Andrews (St Andrews, Scotland, UK)
• 2000 to 2002 - Senior Research Scientist, Bureau of Rural Sciences (Canberra, ACT, Australia)
• 1995 to 2000 - Lecturer, James Cook University (Townsville, QLD, Australia)

Research Disciplines

• Environmental Science and Management (0502)
• Agriculture, Land and Farm Management (0701)
• Demography (1603)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Environmental and Natural Resource Evaluation (9606)
• Land and Water Management (9609)
• Community Service (9401)

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Acheampong E, MacGregor C, Sloan S and Sayer J (2019) Deforestation is driven by agricultural expansion in Ghana's forest reserves. Scientific African, 5, Article: e00146, DOI:10.1016/j.sciaf.2019.e00146.
• Acheampong E, Sayer J and MacGregor C (2018) Road improvement enhances smallholder productivity and reduces forest encroachment in Ghana. Environmental Science & Policy, 85, pp. 64-71, DOI:10.1016/j.envsci.2018.04.001.
• Alamgir M, Turton S, Campbell M, MacGregor C and Pert P (2018) Spatial congruence and divergence between ecosystem services and biodiversity in a tropical forested landscape. Ecological Indicators, 93, pp. 173-182, DOI:10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.04.017.
• Ávila L, Filho W, Brandli L, Macgregor C, Molthan-Hill P, Özuyar P and Moreira R (2017) Barriers to innovation and sustainability at universities around the world. Journal of Cleaner Production, 164, pp. 1268-1278, DOI:10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.07.025.
• Alamgir M, Turton S, Macgregor C and Pert P (2016) Ecosystem services capacity across heterogeneous forest types: understanding the interactions and suggesting pathways for sustaining multiple ecosystem services. Science of the Total Environment, 566-567, pp. 584-595, DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.05.107.
• Alamgir M, Turton S, Macgregor C and Pert P (2016) Assessing regulating and provisioning ecosystem services in a contrasting tropical forest landscape. Ecological Indicators, 64, pp. 319-334, DOI:10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.01.016.
• MacGregor C and Warren C (2016) Evaluating the impacts of nitrate vulnerable zones on the environment and farmer' practices: a Scottish case study. Scottish Geographical Journal, 132 (1), pp. 1-20, DOI:10.1080/14702541.2015.1034760.
• Pettit N, Naiman R, Fry J, Roberts J, Close P, Pusey B, Woodall G, MacGregor C, Speldewinde P, Stewart B, Dobbs R, Paterson H, Cook P, Toussaint S, Comer S and Davies P (2015) Environmental change: prospects for conservation and agriculture in a southwest Australia biodiversity hotspot. Ecology and Society, 20 (3), Article: 10, DOI:10.5751/ES-07727-200310.

Book Chapters

• Macgregor C, Connell A, O'Connor K and Sagar M (2019) Using the learning in future environments (LiFE) index to assess James Cook University's progress in supporting and embedding sustainability. In: Sustainability on University Campuses: learning, skills building and best practices. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 147-164
• Thorne M and MacGregor C (2017) Pedagogy and learning for sustainability in a virtual world scaffold. In: Authentic Virtual World Education: Facilitating Cultural Engagement and Creativity. Springer, Singapore, pp. 9-23
• MacGregor C (2015) James Cook University's holistic response to the sustainable development challenge. In: Transformative Approaches to Sustainable Development at Universities: working across disciplines. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Switzerland, pp. 25-40
• Macgregor C (2011) Innovative river action planning for the Upper Collie Catchment, Western Australia. In: River Basin Management VI. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 146. WIT Press, Southampton, UK, pp. 3-14

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 22+ research outputs authored by Dr Colin MacGregor from 2000 onwards.

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• The planning and management of outdoor recreation settings: An integrated sustainability, health promotion and leisure research approach (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Cassowary Attitudes and Drier Behaviour in the Wet Tropics in Australia (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Drivers of Change in Farming Systems and Forest Cover in Ghana (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• A study of Forest Management in Indonesia (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)

Completed

• The role of factors that influence the adoption of the Australian Carbon Farming Initiative-Emissions Reduction Fund: a mixed methods study (2017, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Ecosystem services across contrasting forested landscapes in Queensland's Wet Tropics Bioregion: contemporary patterns, processes and likely future trends under a changing climate (2016, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Impact of roads on farm size, market participation, and forest cover change in rural Ghana (2016, Masters , Secondary Advisor)

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.