Profile

I am a Lecturer and ARC DECRA research fellow. My research seeks to understand how morality and moral norms shape environmental governance and adaptation to environmental change in coastal communities. My work is interdisciplinary, drawing on human geography, development studies, and environmental sociology.

Previously, I studied sociology at the Australian National University (2012), an MPhil in Environment, Society and Development at the University of Cambridge (2014), and a PhD in environmental social science at James Cook University (2019). My PhD project investigated the multiple values of ecosystem services and environmental justice in coastal communities in Papua New Guinea. Between 2019 and 2022 I was a postdoctoral research fellow with the ARC CoE in coral reef studies and WorldFish.

Select Media

Articles in The Conversation
WorldFish Blogs
Nature Behavioural & Social Sciences: 'Behind the Paper'

Select Publications

*See Googlescholar for full list

Mason, J., Eurich, J., Lau, J., et al., 2022. Operationalizing resilience to climate change in fisheries. Fish and Fisheries. 23(3): 522-544

Lau, J., Kleiber, D., Lawless, S. & Cohen, P. 2021. Gender equality in climate policy and practice hindered by assumptions. Nature Climate Change. 11:186-192

Lau, J., Song, A., Morrison, T., Fabinyi, M., Brown, K., Blythe, J., Allison, E. & Adger, N. 2021. Morals and climate change decision-making: Insights from behavioural and social sciences. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 52:27-35

Lau, J., Gurney, G. & Cinner, J. 2021. Environmental justice in coastal systems: perspectives from communities confronting change. Global Environmental Change.66:102208

Interests

Professional

Reviewer for Environment International; Ecology and Society; Global Environmental Change; Geoforum; Humanities and Social Sciences Communications; Marine Policy; People and Nature; Climatic Change

Research

How morality influences adaptation to climate change in the Great Barrier Reef region.
Equity and justice in coastal governance and the socially-stratified ways that people value, access and coproduce coastal ecosystem services
Social dimensions of human-wildlife conflict (shark depredation)

Teaching

Social dimensions of conservation and environmental management (e.g., gender and development, ecosystem services, environmental justice)
Supervision of topics related to the social dimensions of environmental change, development, fisheries and coastal communities.

Experience

2023 to present - Lecturer, CASE, JCU (Townsville)
2019 to 2022 - Postdoctoral research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies (Townsville)
2017 - Casual Officer, CSIRO, Dept. of Land and Water (Townsville)

Research Disciplines

Socio-Economic Objectives

Honours

Awards

2021 - ECR Green Open Access Award, JCU Library
2020 - Dean’s Award for High Degree by Research Excellence, James Cook University
2020 - Glenn Almany Memorial Prize for research beyond traditional academic boundaries, ARC COE in Coral Reef Studies
2019 - A MARE best student paper award
2018 - Crawford Award
2018 - International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC) best student talk award
2012 - Vice Chancellor's letter of commendation, The Australian National University
2011 - Vice Chancellor's letter of commendation, The Australian National University

Fellowships

2023 to 2026 - ARC DECRA Fellowship
2022 to 2023 - AXA Postdoctoral research fellowship (rescinded)

Memberships

2022 - PECs working group: Ocean Equity
2021 - Australian Coastal Society
2018 - Society for Conservation Biology
2018 - The Institute of Australian Geographers
2021 to 2024 - CESAB working group: Blue Justice
2021 to 2022 - ARC CoE Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion commitee
2020 to 2022 - SNAPP working group: Operationalizing Resilience in Fisheries

Publications

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

Diedrich A, Duce S, Eriksson H, Govan H, Harohau D, Koczberski G, Lau J, Mills D, Minter T, Steenbergen D and Troell M (2022) An applied research agenda for navigating diverse livelihood challenges in rural coastal communities in the tropics. One Earth, 5 (11). pp. 1205-1215
Grantham R, Lau J, Mills D and Cumming G (2022) Social and temporal dynamics mediate the distribution of ecosystem service benefits from a small-scale fishery. Ecosystems and People, 18 (1). pp. 15-30
Mason J, Eurich J, Lau J, Battista W, Free C, Mills K, Tokunaga K, Zhao L, Dickey-Collas M, Valle M, Pecl G, Cinner J, McClanahan T, Allison E, Friedman W, Silva C, Yanez E, Barbieri M and Kleisner K (2022) Attributes of climate resilience in fisheries: from theory to practice. Fish and Fisheries, 23 (3). pp. 522-544
Bassett H, Lau J, Giordano C, Suri S, Advani S and Sharan S (2021) Preliminary lessons from COVID-19 disruptions of small-scale fishery supply chains. World Development, 143.
Lau J, Sutcliffe S, Barnes M, Mbaru E, Muly I, Muthiga N, Wanyonyi S and Cinner J (2021) COVID-19 impacts on coastal communities in Kenya. Marine Policy, 134.
Lau J, Song A, Morrison T, Fabinyi M, Brown K, Blythe J, Allison E and Adger W (2021) Morals and climate decision-making: insights from social and behavioural sciences. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 52. pp. 27-35
Lau J, Kleiber D, Lawless S and Cohen P (2021) Gender equality in climate policy and practice hindered by assumptions. Nature Climate Change, 11. pp. 186-192
Lau J, Gurney G and Cinner J (2021) Environmental justice in coastal systems: perspectives from communities confronting change. Global Environmental Change, 66.
Rojas C, Cinner J, Lau J, Ruano-Chamorro C, Contreras-Drey F and Gelcich S (2021) An experimental look at trust, bargaining, and public goods in fishing communities. Scientific Reports, 11.
Barnes M, Wang P, Cinner J, Graham N, Guerrero A, Jasny L, Lau J, Sutcliffe S and Zamborain-Mason J (2020) Social determinants of adaptive and transformative responses to climate change. Nature Climate Change, 10. pp. 823-828
Grantham R, Lau J and Kleiber D (2020) Gleaning: beyond the subsistence narrative. Maritime Studies, 19. pp. 509-524
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.

More: ResearchOnline@JCU stores 18+ research outputs authored by Dr Jacqueline Lau from 2018 onwards.

Current Funding

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

Crawford Fund - International Engagement Award

Beyond Food and Money: Uncovering the hidden values of gleaning in the Asia-Pacific

Indicative Funding: $12,000 over 1 year
Summary: Gleaning, the activity of collecting of marine organisms from inter-tidal habitats, is a common fishing strategy and provider of food and income. Yet, it remains poorly understood, and is persistently underrepresented in statistics and narratives about small-scale fisheries. Despite some emerging research on the importance of gleaning for household food security in vulnerable coastal areas in developing countries, the voices and values of gleaners often remain unheard in coastal management and development decision-making. To address this, we propose a collaborative project to investigate and begin to address the invisibility of gleaning in the Asia- Pacific through a capacity building workshop.
Investigators: Jacqueline Lau and Ruby Grantham (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and University of Exeter)
Keywords: Gleaning; Asia-Pacific; Gender; Capacity building; Environmental Values

Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research - Fisheries Program - Small Research Activity

Spatially integrated Portfolio Approach to support livelihoods

Indicative Funding: $248,458 over 2 years
Summary: The Integrated Livelihoods Approach (ILA) provides an approach to diagnose and help navigate interrelated and cumulative impacts, trade-offs and co-benefits of interacting livelihood activities occurring in spatially defined coastal areas. Participatory and interdisciplinary research, integrated governance, negotiation, trust-building, ongoing conflict management, and cross-sectoral and political engagement are central to the ILA. This project will establish the mechanisms for achieving the strengthened networks, integrated governance and policy, and improved planning required to implement an ILA in Western Province, Solomon Islands, with the potential to scale-up to other locations.
Investigators: Amy Diedrich, Jacqueline Lau, Tiffany Morrison, Nicholas Murray, Stephanie Duce, Claire Holland, Faye Siota and Bethany Smith (College of Science & Engineering, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, College of Business, Law & Governance and WorldFish Solomon Islands)
Keywords: Sustainable livelihoods; Solomon Islands; Pacific Islands; Participatory research approach; Natural Resource Management

Supervision

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

Political economy of youth-led food system transformations (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
Macro and Micro Level Determinants of the Contribution of Fish to Nutritional Security (PhD , Secondary Advisor)

Data

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

Lau, J. (2020) Surveys on the importance of coastal ecosystem services in developing coastal communities, Papua New Guinea. James Cook University

Collaboration

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.