My undergraduate training was in zoology and marine science, but my PhD work, conducted in the Solomon Islands, explored the relationship between local environmental knowledge, customary marine tenure, and coastal fishery management. My interest in the relationship between Western science and environmental knowledge in other cultures has led me steadily towards what I do now, which is continuing to research the interface between different knowledges and resource management, while teaching anthropology.

Having worked for several large conservation NGOs, I have also developed an interest in the relationship between power, science and transnational conservation projects, and have written a number of papers on this topic. I have also become increasingly interested in the use of secrecy jurisdictions by transnational resource extracting corporations, and the extent to which this faclitates enormous flows of wealth out of resource rich but economically poor countries in the tropics, stymying both economic and human development.

I have been engaged in a large number, and wide variety of consultancies over the past twenty years, from measuring the social and economic impact of mining in PNG, to monitoring the impact of governance interventions such as the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), to assessing the effectiveness of conservation programs all over the Pacific.

Teaching

• AN1001: Anthropology: Cultural Diversity in Global Perspective (Level 1; TSV)
• AN2004: Medical Anthropology: Health, Science and Biopolitics (Level 2; TSV)
• AN2013: Culture, Knowledge and Environment (Level 2; CNS & TSV)
• AN2106: Anthropology of Violence: The State, Politics and Citizens (Level 2; TSV)
• AN3006: Anthropology and Development: Critical Perspectives on Globalisation and Inequality (Level 3; CNS & TSV)
• AN3008: Myth, Ritual and Religion (Level 3; TSV)
• AN5006: Asia Pacific Development: Culture and Globalisation (Level 5; TSV)
• SC1101: Science, Technology and Truth (Level 1; TSV)

Interests

Research

• The relationship between Western environmentalism and marine science.
• Local environmental knowledge and Western conservation projects in the Pacific.
• Small pelagic fisheries in the tropics.
• The political ecology of catchment dynamics and coastal fishery production in the tropics.
• The political ecology of coral reefs and fishery-based protein security.
• Transnational corporations, capital flight and poverty in the global South.
• Markets, economic development and food security in Lao PDR.

Teaching

• 'Culture, Knowledge and Environment', 'Asia Pacific Development' and Introductory Anthropology.

Experience

• 2006 to 2011 - Principal Research Fellow and Program 7 Leader, James Cook University (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies)
• 2002 to 2006 - Research Fellow, Australian National University (Resource Management In Asia Pacific Program)
• 1999 to 2001 - Senior Technical Advisor, World Wide Fund for Nature (Gizo, Solomon Islands)
• 1991 to 1993 - Marine Scientist, Marine Studies Group (Environment Protection Authority, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)

Research Disciplines

• Anthropology (4401)
• Fisheries sciences (3005)
• Environmental management (4104)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Marine systems and management (1805)

Awards

• 2015 - Community Engaged Research Award, Southern Cross University "For engaging rural Pacific Island artisanal fishers in capacity building through postharvest processing and testing livelihood impacts". Southern Cross University.

Fellowships

• 2015 - Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology

Memberships

• 2004 - Australian Anthropological Society
• 1999 - Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania

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

• Smallhorn-West P, Cohen P, Kukiti E, Rabbitt S, Rikio A, Sori F, Tapala S, Warren R, Boso D and Foale S (2022) Ten years of dynamic co-management of a multi-species reef fishery. Coral Reefs, 41. pp. 1449-1464
• Ambelye I, Foale S and Dyer M (2021) Educated young women and the challenges of reintegration in rural villages of Papua New Guinea. Directions: a Journal of Education Studies, 35 (2). pp. 57-69
• Hair C, Foale S, Daniels N, Minimulu P, Aini J and Southgate P (2020) Social and economic challenges to community-based sea cucumber mariculture development in New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea. Marine Policy, 117.
• Wood M, Foale S and Gabriel J (2020) Anticipating Ulawun Volcano in New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Anthropological Forum, 30 (1-2). pp. 30-41
• Barclay K, Fabinyi M, Kinch J and Foale S (2019) Governability of high-value fisheries in low-income contexts: a case study of the sea cucumber fishery in Papua New Guinea. Human Ecology, 47. pp. 381-396
• Hair C, Foale S, Kinch J, Frijlink S, Lindsay D and Southgate P (2019) Socioeconomic impacts of a sea cucumber fishery in Papua New Guinea: is there an opportunity for mariculture? Ocean & Coastal Management, 179.
• 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).
• Taiarui M, Foale S, Bambridge T and Sheaves M (2019) Is stock enhancement the best option to manage fisheries? A case study from Taiarapu (French Polynesia). Marine Policy, 104.
• Barclay K, McClean N, Foale S, Sulu R and Lawless S (2018) Lagoon livelihoods: gender and shell money in Langalanga, Solomon Islands. Maritime Studies, 17 (2). pp. 199-211
• Foale S (2018) An anthropologist's perspective on criminal justice in North Queensland. James Cook University Law Review, 24. pp. 223-229
• Militz T, Foale S, Kinch J and Southgate P (2018) Natural rarity places clownfish colour morphs at risk of targeted and opportunistic exploitation in a marine aquarium fishery. Aquatic Living Resources, 31.

Book Chapters

• Foale S (2021) The unequal place of anthropology in cross‑disciplinary research on environmental management in the Pacific and what to do about it. In: Unequal Lives: Gender, Race and Class in the Western Pacific. Pacific Series. ANU Press, Canberra, ACT, Australia, pp. 77-107

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 62+ research outputs authored by A/Prof Simon Foale from 2004 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

• Investigating corruption in Papua New Guinea through the patron-client structure: The citizens' perception (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
• Failing Feminism: Culture, Female Empowerment and Agricultural Development (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
• Moana Perspectives on the Ocean and Climate Change: Using Ta Va Theory to Represent Pasifika Voices (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Colonial Representations and Responses to Sorcery in Papua New Guinea (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Impacts of Chinese Tourism on the Infrastructure of Fiji (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Community development in villages of PNG: Evaluating empowerment of young, educated women for community development and social change. (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• The Dwelling in Contemporary New Caledonia: Implications of Low Cost Housing Architecture (Masters , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Global Governance in the era of COVID-19: Application of regime theory in the comparative study of the global response to SARS in 2003 and COVID-19 in 2020 (PhD , Advisor Mentor)

Completed

• From rural to digital: mobile money in the development context - a case study in rural Kasese, Uganda (2021, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Connecting to nature in the digital age: A cross-cultural study of pro-environmental individuals in the United States and in Australia (2022, PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
• Development of community-based mariculture of sandfish, Holothuria scabra, in New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea (2020, PhD , 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.