My research examines collaborative governance of tropical marine and coastal ecosystems and has two key themes: (1) opportunities for collaborative governance of tropical marine and coastal ecosystems; and (2) the multiple sustainability outcomes of such initiatives. My research is interdisciplinary, drawing on human geography and sociology and involving collaborations with natural scientists. I have undertaken much of my research in the context of coral reef governance in Australia and the Asia-Pacific (Fiji, Indonesia, Philippines), often in partnership with environmental management practitioners. I received my PhD from James Cook University in 2016 (for more details on my time as a graduate student please see this article), and am currently an Environmental Social Science Research Fellow at the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Townsville, Australia.

My current research program has two broad themes:

Opportunities for collaborative governance of tropical marine and coastal ecosystems 

This theme of my research is concerned with understanding the factors affecting opportunities for collaborative governance of marine ecosystems, including examining why people engage in collective action in regards to management and how such cooperative activities are affected by the micro and macro social-ecological context. Research in this theme includes examining how multi-scale socioeconomic and institutional factors affect participation in co- management and cooperative behavioural disposition (as indexed by a public goods game). My current research includes examining the role of socioeconomic and cultural heterogeneity in influencing the likelihood of collaborative governance, including in relation to cooperative behavioural types (i.e. conditional cooperator, free rider etc), and how environmental policy and management practice can account for that heterogeneity when engaging civil society in stewardship and public participation. In regards to the latter, my recent research draws on place attachment theory to re-examine the notion of ‘community’ in environmental policy and management in the context of addressing contemporary sustainability challenges, which increasingly require transnational collaborative governance and stewardship given globalisation (related conference talk can be found here).

Outcomes of collaborative governance of tropical marine and coastal systems

A core focus of my research in this theme is evaluating how people are impacted by and respond to co-management. Projects have included evaluating the impacts of co-management on multidimensional poverty, including the equality of those impacts according to social subgroups, such as gender. Over the past two years I have been working with the Wildlife Conservation Society to develop a social-ecological monitoring framework to be applied to coral reef sites; specifically, my role in the transdisciplinary process was to lead the development of the social indicators (more about this project can be found here). The framework has now been applied in seven countries and we have a number of projects in the pipeline drawing on the resulting data; these include examining distributional and procedural equity in regards to co-management and identifying the trade-offs and co-benefits among the multiple social and ecological outcomes of co-management (the topic of our NCEAS SNAPP working group).

Selected publicaitons

For complete publication list see Google Scholar

Gurney, G., E. Emily, S. Jupiter, S. Mangubhai, T. McClanahan, P. Lestari, S. Pardede, S. Campbell, M. Fox, W. Naisilisili, N. Muthiga, S. D’agata, K. Holmes, N. Rossi. 2019. Implementing a social-ecological systems framework for conservation monitoring: lessons from a multi-country coral reef program. Biological Conservation. 240: 108298. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000632071931420X

Darling, E.S., McClanahan, T.R., Maina, J., Gurney, G., Graham, N.A., Januchowski-Hartley, F., Cinner, J.E., Mora, C., Hicks, C.C., Maire, E., Puotinen, M., et al., 2019. Social–environmental drivers inform strategic management of coral reefs in the Anthropocene. Nature Ecology & Evolution, pp.1-10, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0953-8.

Lau, J.D., Hicks, C.C., Gurney, G. and Cinner, J.E., 2019. What matters to whom and why? Understanding the importance of coastal ecosystem services in developing coastal communities. Ecosystem Services, 35, pp.219-230, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2018.12.012.

Ban, N.C., Gurney, G.., Marshall, N.A., Whitney, C.K., Mills, M., Gelcich, S., Bennett, N.J., Meehan, M.C., Butler, C., Ban, S. and Tran, T.C., 2019. Well-being outcomes of marine protected areas. Nature Sustainability, 2(6), p.524, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0306-2.

Bellwood, D.R., Pratchett, M.S., Morrison, T.H., Gurney, G.., Hughes, T.P., Álvarez-Romero, J.G., Day, J.C., Grantham, R., Grech, A., Hoey, A.S., Jones, G.P., Pandolfi, J.M., Tebbett, S.B., Techera, E., Weeks, R., and Cumming, G. 2019. Coral reef conservation in the Anthropocene: confronting spatial mismatches and prioritizing functions. Biological Conservation, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.05.056.

Marshall, N., Adger, W.N., Benham, C., Brown, K., Curnock, M.I., Gurney, G., Marshall, P., Pert, P.L. and Thiault, L., 2019. Reef Grief: investigating the relationship between place meanings and place change on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Sustainability Science, 14(3), pp.579-587, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-019-00666-z.

Bergseth, B.J., Gurney, G., Barnes, M.L., Arias, A. and Cinner, J.E., 2018. Addressing poaching in marine protected areas through voluntary surveillance and enforcement. Nature Sustainability, 1(8), p.421, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0117-x.

Cinner, J.E., Maire, E., Huchery, C., MacNeil, M.A., Graham, N.A., Mora, C., McClanahan, T.R., Barnes, M.L., Kittinger, J.N., Hicks, C.C., D’agata, S., Hoey, A., Gurney, G., et al., 2018. Gravity of human impacts mediates coral reef conservation gains. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(27), pp. E6116-E6125, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1708001115.

Gurney, G., Blythe, J., Adams, H., Adger, W.N., Curnock, M., Faulkner, L., James, T. and Marshall, N.A., 2017. Redefining community based on place attachment in a connected world. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(38), pp.10077-10082, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1712125114.

Diedrich, A., Stoeckl, N., Gurney, G., Esparon, M. and Pollnac, R., 2017. Social capital as a key determinant of perceived benefits of community-based marine protected areas. Conservation Biology, 31(2), pp.311-321, https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12808.

Gurney, G., Cinner, J.E., Sartin, J., Pressey, R.L., Ban, N.C., Marshall, N.A. and Prabuning, D., 2016. Participation in devolved commons management: multiscale socioeconomic factors related to individuals’ participation in community-based management of marine protected areas in Indonesia. Environmental Science & Policy, 61, pp.212-220, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2016.04.015.

Gurney, G., Pressey, R.L., Cinner, J.E., Pollnac, R. and Campbell, S.J., 2015. Integrated conservation and development: evaluating a community-based marine protected area project for equality of socioeconomic impacts. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 370(1681), p.20140277, https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0277.

Gurney, G., Cinner, J., Ban, N.C., Pressey, R.L., Pollnac, R., Campbell, S.J., Tasidjawa, S. and Setiawan, F., 2014. Poverty and protected areas: an evaluation of a marine integrated conservation and development project in Indonesia. Global Environmental Change, 26, pp.98-107, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.04.003.

Research Disciplines

• Environmental Science and Management (0502)
• Sociology (1608)
• Policy and Administration (1605)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Environmental Policy, Legislation and Standards (9607)
• Ecosystem Assessment and Management (9605)

Awards

• 2019 to 2021 - NCEAS Science for Nature and People Partnership Working Group (co-CI) https://snappartnership.net/teams/coastal-outcomes/
• 2019 - Fulbright Research Fellowship
• 2018 - Queensland Tall Poppy Science Award
• 2018 - AATSE Young Science Ambassador Award
• 2016 - James Cook University Dean’s Award for PhD Excellence
• 2015 - Virginia Chadwick Outstanding Publication Award
• 2012 - Australian Federation of Graduate Women Award

Fellowships

• 2012 to 2016 - CSIRO Flagship Collaboration Fund Fellowship

Memberships

• 2017 to 2019 - Wildlife Conservation Impact Fellow

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

• Lau J, Cinner J, Fabinyi M, Gurney G and Hicks C (2020) Access to marine ecosystem services: examining entanglement and legitimacy in customary institutions. World Development, 126.
• Adams V, Mills M, Weeks R, Segan D, Pressey R, Gurney G, Groves C, Davis F and Alvarez-Romero J (2019) Implementation strategies for systematic conservation planning. Ambio, 47. pp. 139-152
• Ban N, Gurney G, Marshall N, Whitney C, Mills M, Gelcich S, Bennett N, Meehan M, Butler C, Ban S, Tran T, Cox M and Breslow S (2019) Well-being outcomes of marine protected areas. Nature Sustainability, 2. pp. 524-532
• Bellwood D, Pratchett M, Morrison T, Gurney G, Hughes T, Álvarez-Romero J, Day J, Grantham R, Grech A, Hoey A, Jones G, Pandolfi J, Tebbett S, Techera E, Weeks R and Cumming G (2019) Coral reef conservation in the Anthropocene: confronting spatial mismatches and prioritizing functions. Biological Conservation, 236. pp. 604-615
• Darling E, McClanahan T, Maina J, Gurney G, Graham N, Januchowski-hartley F, Cinner J, Mora C, Hicks C, Maire E, Puotinen M, Skirving W, Adjeroud M, Ahmadia G, Arthur R, Bauman A, Beger M, Berumen M, Bigot L, Bouwmeester J, Brenier A, Bridge T, Brown E, Campbell S, Cannon S, Cauvin B, Chen C, Claudet J, Denis V, Donner S, Estradivari , Fadli N, Feary D, Fenner D, Fox H, Franklin E, Friedlander A, Gilmour J, Goiran C, Guest J, Hobbs J, Hoey A, Houk P, Johnson S, Jupiter S, Kayal M, Kuo C, Lamb J, Lee M, Low J, Muthiga N, Muttaqin E, Nand Y, Nash K, Nedlic O, Pandolfi J, Pardede S, Patankar V, Penin L, Ribas-Deulofeu L, Richards Z, Roberts T, Rodgers K, Safuan C, Sala E, Shedrawi G, Sin T, Smallhorn-West P, Smith J, Sommer B, Steinberg P, Sutthacheep M, Tan C, Williams G, Wilson S, Yeemin T, Bruno J, Fortin M, Krkosek M and Mouillot D (2019) Social–environmental drivers inform strategic management of coral reefs in the Anthropocene. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 3. pp. 1341-1350
• Lapointe M, Cumming G and Gurney G (2019) Comparing Ecosystem Service preferences between urban and rural dwellers. BioScience, 69 (2). pp. 108-116
• Lau J, Hicks C, Gurney G and Ginner J (2019) What matters to whom and why? Understanding the importance of coastal ecosystem services in developing coastal communities. Ecosystem Services, 35. pp. 219-230
• MacKeracher T, Foale S, Gurney G and Purcell S (2019) Adoption and diffusion of technical capacity-building innovations by small-scale artisanal fishers in Fiji. Ecology and Society, 24 (2).
• Marshall N, Adger W, Benham C, Brown K, Curnock M, Gurney G, Marshall P, Pert P and Thiault L (2019) Reef Grief: investigating the relationship between place meanings and place change on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Sustainability Science, 14 (3). pp. 579-587
• Marshall N, Thiault L, Beeden A, Beeden R, Benham C, Curnock M, Diedrich A, Gurney G, Jones L, Marshall P, Nakamura N and Pert P (2019) Our environmental value orientations influence how we respond to climate change. Frontiers in Psychology, 10.
• Alvarez-Romero J, Mills M, Adams V, Gurney G, Pressey R, Weeks R, Ban N, Cheok J, Davis T, Day J, Hamel M, Leslie H, Magris R and Storlie C (2018) Research advances and gaps in marine planning: towards a global database in systematic conservation planning. Biological Conservation, 227. pp. 369-382
• Álvarez-Romero J, Munguía-Vega A, Beger M, Mancha-Cisneros M, Suárez-Castillo A, Gurney G, Pressey R, Gerber L, Morzaria-Luna H, Reyes-Bonilla H, Adams V, Kolb M, Graham E, Vanderwal J, Castillo-López A, Hinojosa-Arango G, Petatán-Ramírez D, Moreno-Baez M, Godínez-Reyes C and Torre J (2018) Designing connected marine reserves in the face of global warming. Global Change Biology, 24 (2). pp. e671-e691

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ResearchOnline@JCU stores 35+ research outputs authored by Dr Georgina Gurney from 2010 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

• Understanding ecosystem service preferences and wellbeing benefits along a rural-urban gradient (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Just Fisheries: Equity perceptions and their role in environmental management and conservation (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Understanding the production of scosystem services and benefits through a socio-cultural approach (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Impact of community-based marine management in the Kingdom of Tonga (PhD , Secondary Advisor)

Completed

• 'The reef is our garden' expanding analysis of ecosystem services in coastal communities (2019, PhD , Secondary Advisor)

These are the most recent metadata records associated with this researcher. To see a detailed description of all dataset records, visit the JCU Research Data Catalogue.

• Gurney, G. (2016) Socioeconomic data on community-based management from Indonesia. James Cook University

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.