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Take for example my DR group of students who are working on a project on the demand and supply issues in indigenous tourism. The project involves conducting one-one one interviews with indigenous tourism operators and tourists in Far North Queensland. This is both a challenging and exciting undertaking. Anyone who has done research involving indigenous people in Australia can tell you how challenging it is. However, to my students, this was exciting in that it afforded them a rare chance to interact with, and learn from, the people with the oldest continuous living culture on the planet: the Aboriginal people of Australia.
Students talked of how this particular research has provided them with an opportunity for an informal interaction with study participants, which helped them to build self confidence in their research endeavour. One student remarked, “its one thing to learn about some of these things in class and from textbooks, but it’s another to experience them firsthand”. In the course of our surveys, I could see how students had immersed themselves in the context.
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[post_content] => The new ultra-modern Cairns Institute at James Cook University (JCU) recently played host to our students. Through our collaboration with JCU, the students spent an afternoon with Professor Abert Schram, a former SFS faculty member, now the Vice Chancellor of Papua New Guinea University Technology, who introduced them to Problem-Based Learning (PBL). The exercise involved addressing a real life issue, namely, the proposed development of a multi-billion dollar, Macau–style mega resort and casino in Yorkeys Knobs in Cairns' northern beaches. The project must pass environmental, social, and economic approval, and the developers are in the process of undertaking public consultation.
PBL involves students working together in small tutorial groups to develop and take responsibility for their own learning objectives. They take an active role to study literature to help them solve a complex problem. The process of finding the solution is structured and is as important as the solution itself.
After a brief introduction of the PBL process by Professor Schram, students leapt at the challenge with enthusiasm. The task before them was to identify the potential socio-economic and environmental factors surrounding this development and come up with sound recommendations. Professor Schram and I acted as tutors, but students led the discussions, identified learning objectives, divided tasks, and planned follow-up group meetings. I listened as students asked each other some good questions, such as, what do we know about the subject? What do we have to find out in order to solve the problem? The quality of the discussion was very high and I could tell from their demeanor that they enjoyed being in control of their own learning.
Later that week, students were welcomed at the Tablelands Regional Council (TRC) boardroom for a role-play exercise on the contested issue of sustainability. The exercise made the room—normally reserved for the orderly but often staid conduct of the council’s business—into a theatre abuzz with the excitement of learning.
[post_title] => Students Exposed to Problem-Based Learning
[post_excerpt] => The exercise Problem-Based Learning exercise involved addressing a real life issue, the proposed development of a multi-billion dollar, Macau–style mega resort and casino.
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[post_content] => How time flies! It’s hard to believe that it’s been two weeks since the start of the Directed Research (DR) at The Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS). Students have been grouped according to DR projects and friends who happen to be in different research groups rarely see each other anymore. We began by refreshing students on the details of the CRS 5-Year Research Plan as it relates to the DR courses, then each faculty member introduced his/her DR project for the semester. We also had a discussion to explore some of the ethical dilemmas in conducting research and examined procedures and approaches that are employed to overcome these problems.
This semester, there is an interesting mix of research projects which students have been able to choose from. These include the ecology of plants in primary rainforest; secondary succession on the Atherton Tablelands; the habitat use and behavior of arboreal mammals; understanding visitors’ perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes towards the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area; and seed dispersal in “Kickstart” pasture conversion plots.
One DR group, which affectionately refers to itself as ‘The Justus League," has straddled the length and breadth of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (WTWHA) conducting face-to-face interviews with visitors to this world-class natural refuge. This research is informed by the need to avail relevant information, which if implemented, could ensure the appropriate management of visitor sites so that services, facilities and recreational experiences are compatible with present opportunities, meet expectations, and continue to attract more tourists.
The group has visited the Daintree, Mission Beach, Kuranda, Mossman and Malanda Falls. I can tell from their demeanour that so far, they have enjoyed every moment of it. Well, not that they’ve had it easy; they’ve had to contend with rejections here and there! But they seem to have taken it in stride; it hasn’t in the least dampened their spirit. And this is what I love about working with students groups like "The Justus League" with real "GUTS" (read: Genuine Urge To Succeed).
Good luck with your DR projects, SFS students worldwide!
[post_title] => Students with ‘GUTS’ Conduct Key Research
[post_excerpt] => How time flies! It’s hard to believe that it’s been two weeks since the start of the Directed Research (DR) at The Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS).
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[post_content] => At the beginning of this semester, students had an interesting interaction with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal tribal group. Students went out on a field lecture on indigenous management of ‘country.’ Used in this sense, ‘country’ in Australia means an area of land and/or sea that traditionally belongs to an Aboriginal tribal group. The Mandingalbay Yidinji country lies east of Cairns across Trinity Inlet and includes a great diversity of environments, namely marine areas, mangroves, freshwater wetlands, rainforest-clad mountains, coastal plains, beaches, reefs and islands. During the visit, students learned about the traditional uses of plants, enjoyed a special lunch cooked in a ‘Kup murri’ (earth oven), and toured some sites on the country where there are particular environmental issues at the land/sea interface. We discussed the past and present day land management and institutional arrangements. Students also had an opportunity to visit Yarabah village, which we were informed is one of the largest Aboriginal settlements in Australia, but whose unemployment rate stands at 98%.
The MY people have established a separate entity, the Djunbunji Land and Sea Program, to conduct land management activities on their behalf. Lately, we have been engaging with the management of this program with a view toward establishing a more structured mutual cooperation. It is expected that this cooperation will, for the first time, afford our students the opportunity to do research directly with the Australian indigenous people. Research involving the indigenous people is increasingly difficult to undertake as accessing these communities can be quite challenging for various reasons. We are therefore very excited at the prospect of working long-term with the MY people, who are very keen to share aspects of their culture and homeland and plan to develop the skills and infrastructure to make the visit to their country memorable. They plan to do this by offering eco-tourism services and experiences on their country.
As a starting point in our cooperation, this semester, four lucky students will be conducting a case study on the potential for sustainable tourism on the MY country for their DR. It is envisaged that the findings of this study will help the management of Djunbunji Land and Sea Program to make evidence-based decisions on how to proceed with their eco-tourism business development plan.
[post_title] => Collaboration with Indigenous People Opens New Research Opportunities
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[post_content] => Our collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal tribe continues to offer students interesting opportunities to interact with and learn from the first nation Australians. Just in their second week of arriving in Australia, students have spent a day and a half on the country (Aboriginal country). During the day, students were guided around the country by local indigenous rangers. They learned about the traditional uses of plants, toured some sites on the country where there are particular environmental issues at the land-sea interface, and listened to talks given by traditional owners of the land. In the evening, students pitched camp in one of the designated camping areas. They were the second group of foreigners (the first was SFS Summer 2014 students) to be allowed to camp on MY country.
The MY country contains a diversity of environments from Trinity Inlet, near Cairns, over the Malbon Thompson Range, across the coastal plain to the south of Yarrabah and into the Coral Sea, including the Franklin Islands. Their country therefore includes both land and sea areas. They had their Native Title rights recognized in 2006 over their land, clearing the way for them to carry out traditional activities and help to manage and protect their country. At the same time, the MY people are very keen to share aspects of their culture and homeland and plan to develop skills and infrastructure to make visits to their country memorable.
The following morning, students visited Yarrabah village, one of the biggest Aboriginal settlements in Australia, with an estimated total population of 4,000 people. Yarrabah is an interesting place. Settled about 123 years ago, it was a mission station used to house indigenous children from all over Queensland. Coincidentally, the Chairman of the Board of Djunbunji Land and Sea Program, the entity formed by the MY people to manage their local renewables resources, is a former Mayor of Yarrabah Shire. Students had the opportunity to engage with the former mayor who stayed with us throughout the visit.
The aim of this excursion and visit was to help students to understand the array of social, cultural, economic, and political factors that shape resource management and use in Australia, especially from the indigenous people’s perspective.
[post_title] => Land, People, and Culture
[post_excerpt] => Our collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal tribe continues to offer students interesting opportunities to interact with and learn from the first nation Australians.
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[post_content] => SFS students embarked on their Directed Research (DR) projects nearly two week ago, and so far these have been progressing well. Whenever I talk to students, they always tell me how excited they are to be working on their own little project. Now, more than ever before, I can appreciate that while lectures may help students to understand concepts in a specific field, real life research forces them to think how to apply the concepts learnt in class.
Take for example my DR group of students who are working on a project on the demand and supply issues in indigenous tourism. The project involves conducting one-one one interviews with indigenous tourism operators and tourists in Far North Queensland. This is both a challenging and exciting undertaking. Anyone who has done research involving indigenous people in Australia can tell you how challenging it is. However, to my students, this was exciting in that it afforded them a rare chance to interact with, and learn from, the people with the oldest continuous living culture on the planet: the Aboriginal people of Australia.
Students talked of how this particular research has provided them with an opportunity for an informal interaction with study participants, which helped them to build self confidence in their research endeavour. One student remarked, “its one thing to learn about some of these things in class and from textbooks, but it’s another to experience them firsthand”. In the course of our surveys, I could see how students had immersed themselves in the context.
I could not help thinking that this is the kind of immersive experimental learning that alters the worldview of students and increases their intellectual autonomy. The SFS model, which gets students into the world through the lens of research, and places responsibility on them to look at the bigger picture, is one of the best ways of equipping future leaders.
[post_title] => Directed Research: Imagination, Exploration, and Innovation
[post_excerpt] => The project involves conducting one-one one interviews with indigenous tourism operators and tourists in Far North Queensland.
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[post_content] => "This is exactly what I know about Australia: one big red desert with kangaroos roaming all over the place." This is the confession I keep hearing from students whenever we travel to Chillagoe, an Outback area located about 3 hours drive from the SFS Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS). Chillagoe is a rather interesting place. One geologist described it as the "most geologically diverse area in the world." The area is characterised by mining heritage, limestone formations and caves, and Aboriginal art; all of which are nothing but spectacular. A smelter was built by the turn of the 20th century, but the whole mining venture in Chillagoe failed to live up to its promise. The area was subjected to various boom and bust resource extraction cycles, with the smelter finally closing during the Second World War.
The trip to Chillagoe helps students to appreciate the fact that, although mining may come with the promise of wealth and jobs, throughout the world, evidence show that it also results in high social and environmental costs. Chillagoe presents an important lesson, showing the early expansion of mining in Australia, and can be seen as a microcosm of many of the issues around mining and its broad effects on society and the environment. Students were somewhat shocked to learn that the town whose current population is approximately 150 people once had over 10,000 inhabitants. Nowadays, the main land use activity around Chilllagoe is cattle grazing.
Students had the opportunity to enjoy a guided tour of one of the numerous caves in the area.
This field trip shows that the Centre for Rainforest Studies is not always about studying the rainforest. We encourage students to integrate knowledge of the surrounding landscapes in order to gain a better understanding of integrated conservation management over large areas. This is based on the idea that the landscape is interconnected; hence, protected areas such as the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area suffer if the areas around them are badly degraded. Therefore, excursions to Chillagoe will be part of our routine for a long haul–future students can expect to enjoy this trip to Outback Australia!
[post_title] => Not Always About Rainforests
[post_excerpt] => Chillagoe, in the Australian Outback, has been described as the "most geologically diverse area in the world."
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[post_content] => Phew! We are looking at another 4 days to the end of the Direct Research (DR) period. As usual it has been a marathon for all of us at the SFS Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS). DR time is an interesting period in the lives of students and staff. The first two weeks are dedicated for data collection activities. The usual 9am-5pm routine is temporarily suspended, as data collection takes centre stage, with research groups dispersing to various study sites within the Wet Tropics. The excitement is not only in the success in obtaining good data, but also in the experiences which go with the process. Students share scintillating stories of how they got encumbered by wait-a-whiles (a notorious vine with nasty spines on the leaves and stalk), stung by rainforest stinging trees, encountered leeches, picked up numerous ticks, and so on. Although these encounters might sound piddly, they tend to be the most enduring memories of DR experiences. They are humorously shared in conversations with friends and family, on social media and so on -- they are the fun moments which remain etched in memory. I believe this is one of reasons why the SFS program unique. There are few opportunities for undergraduate students to undertake the kind of real world research which SFS students are exposed to.
This semester, students had an opportunity to choose from 3 projects focusing on: Indigenous tourism, tree kangaroos, and secondary forests. Consequently, there were 3 student research groups, one group for each of the projects. The Tree Roo group embarked on a mission to map the distribution of this cryptic arboreal marsupial within the Tablelands region. Research involving the very cute tree kangaroo is always popular with students. However, since this mammal is quite cryptic and arboreal, it calls for patience just to see it, let alone study it, while it is in its natural environment. That said, if the students’ enthusiasm in data analysis and write up is anything to go by, they will no doubt be coming up with interesting findings. I look forward to listening to their oral presentations.
Students who chose to research secondary forests succession spent time establishing transects to characterize various biotic and abiotic factors of the ecosystem. I’m told that the number of measurements involved in this type of study is mind-boggling. Students from this research group have to put in the hard yards; not to mention the usual encounters with leeches, wait-a-whiles, and ticks (the fun part!)
Students establishing transects. Photo courtesy of Lucy Portman.
The third group focused their inquiry on Indigenous tourism, visiting three of the most popular locations in far north Queensland, namely: Mossman Gorge, Rainforestation Nature Park, and Tjapukai. They surveyed visitors seeking Indigenous tourism experiences. Most tourists happily agreed to participate in the survey. However, truth be told, there were some rejections, which the students took in their strides. I believe the students’ research experiences were greatly enriched by their interactions with tourists in the course of their visit. They joined tourists in walking the trails, watched and participated in Aboriginal cultural dances, threw boomerangs, watched indigenous performers bellowing animal sounds through digeridoo and so on. And yes, they also had time to cuddle a Koala! It is not all work and no play.
DR students at Rainforestation Nature Park.→ Tropical Rainforest Studies in Australia
[post_title] => Leeches, Wait-a-Whiles, and Rejection
[post_excerpt] => The excitement is not only in the success in obtaining good data, but also in the experiences which go with the process.
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[post_content] => Our collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal community continues to grow in leaps and bounds. It has now become the norm for students to spend time on MY country, interacting with the Indigenous people, gaining hands on experience with their culture and management of local resources. Last week, the current group of students toured and camped on the MY country; and they have not stopped talking about the wonderful experience they had over there.
This past summer, Brenda Mundraby, an administrative assistant with the MY’s ranger program and a traditional owner, was the third Indigenous student to benefit from the SFS-CRS host country sponsorship program in the last 3 years. I thought I should use the remaining space to share Brenda’s reflections of the SFS Summer 1 program at CRS, in her own words and with her permission.
Brenda Mundraby: SFS Summer 1 2016.
Before leaving to go to New Zealand for the first 2 weeks of my program with The School for Field Studies, I was very nervous and unsure. Flying internationally for the first time and by myself made me feel anxious, but although I did not know my way around the airports I still managed to do so. As I landed at Auckland’s international airport I felt more relieved than ever.
I wasn’t quite sure about whether or not I would fit it. A few days went by and I began to memorize everyone’s names, we all began to talk to one another more and more. It felt like within a blink of an eye we knew one another for such a long amount of time. My friendships with 3 students by the names of Julianne, Nick and Caitlyn became strong because we got along so easily, I felt like I was at home again.
One of my favorite parts of the whole trip around New Zealand was at CUE Haven (a reforestation project) - the married couple was such an inspiration, so big hearted and very welcoming. Planting trees on their land was amazing. Doing something so easy but yet so great and appreciated was one of the highlights of my time at CUE Haven.
My other favorite part in New Zealand was staying at the Marae. The family around me felt like a blessing because while I was missing home so much, I felt like I was at home there. Their positive attitude, their family, culture and beliefs reminded me of mine as the indigenous cultures of Australia and New Zealand have so many similarities. The food was awesome at the Marae as well, I liked the hike we did with the Marae family, especially when we got to go through the fences to feel the spiritual connection, was something different but so interesting.
Coming back home to Australia, Cairns made me feel happy but also sad to leave the Maori country, but it won’t be the last visit. Being around Cairns, Atherton and the Daintree was a lot of fun, as I am a Cairns local and some of the places we visited happened to be my first time so it was something new. Being back in Australia also made me become closer with more of the students as they kept asking me about my culture, land and people and as an indigenous person I could answer them with what knowledge I had.
My favorite part of the Australia trip was coming to my work and country. I got to show everyone what I do as my career and what my people do to keep our culture strong. Camping at the ETR Campsite with the Djunbunji Rangers including my father was very fun indeed and it was great to also share my experiences with the rest of the students as it was my first time doing the MY Tours. I felt very happy when we visited Djunbunji, it was a great feeling to be home on my land after nearly 1 month of being away.
Overall I have made many lifetime friends and also experienced travelling internationally for the first time in which is a big step for me. I gained more knowledge and skills more than ever, and planting trees for a better lifestyle for our wildlife was amazing. We need to look after the beautiful environment around us for not only us but once again for our fauna and flora. I have learnt that you can make friends anywhere, have a lot of fun and laughter and also create new memories that will stay with you forever. If anyone asks me about my trip with SFS, I strongly recommend that they be a part of it. This trip has made me want to experience travelling and the environment in many areas even more. So thank you to the staff and students for making my trip the highlight of my 2016, it was an honor to have stayed with a bunch of amazing, outgoing and wonderful people who became lifetime friends.
→ Tropical Rainforest Studies in Australia
[post_title] => A Rewarding Collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji Aboriginal Community
[post_excerpt] => This past summer, Brenda Mundraby, an administrative assistant with the MY’s ranger program and a traditional owner, was the third Indigenous student to benefit from the SFS-CRS host country sponsorship program in the last 3 years.
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[post_content] => The "Communities and Climate Change" research group returning to the Centre after 2 days of conducting surveys. All photos courtesy of Alitza Shutt
The data collection phase of the directed research is over for this semester. It had been a busy two weeks of data collection, which I reckon is the fun part of the directed research process. Now, the challenging part of data analysis and reporting has begun. Students have the next two weeks to work on their final report. When you think about it, this deadline is quite close, as they are also expected to give oral presentations and design posters within the same period. I do not know how they do it, but they never disappoint. In 100% of the cases, they cruise through the process quite successfully, delivering praiseworthy reports.
I am looking forward to reading the reports from my DR groups of students, who are working on the communities and climate change project. The main objective of this project is to determine the local residents’ risk perceptions related to climate change. It is now clear that there is a growing skepticism between climate change science and public opinion. It beggars belief that this skepticism is mostly propagated by people who know little, if anything, about climate science; their only claim to fame being their voice and agency, which they use to leverage public opinion. At the same time, we know that climate science information tends to be limited by the scarcity of comprehensive and relevant data, pertinent to extreme events. For this reason, the issue of climate change remains both contested and polarizing.
Why, then, is risk perception important, one might ask. The thing is, that while the perception of risk is not the same as actual risk (e.g. which could be determined through modelling), it does provide some insight into how people may behave in the event of a climate change induced extreme event, and in the absence of the availability of actual data-sets. Therefore, an understanding of the perception of risk can provide a view into what people value, and what importance they place on certain factors, amidst climate change impacts. Such information is useful in determining how people will recover if these factors are affected during hazard events such as those associated with climate change. The current project is premised on the aforementioned observations.
In order to gather data for this study, students conducted surveys in Mission Beach, Innisfail, Herberton, Kuranda and Atherton towns within the Wet Tropics region where we are located. For these students, this was not only a time to gather data for their research project, but was also an opportunity to further interact with the local community members. Students have described to me how the interview experiences enriched their learning, as discussions tended to go beyond the scope of the information they were soliciting from the interviewees.
Student Chase Goldston interviewing a resident of Mission Beach
Although the findings of the study will be discussed in the final projects, which are due in two weeks’ time, I could not help noticing how surprised students were by some of the responses to the survey questions. In some cases, they received the most unexpected responses. For example, to the question of whether or not interviewees thought climate change was a threat to the Wet Tropics, a significant number of interviewees said that climate change is not real, that it is conspiracy theory hatched by some countries in order to limit the growth and influence of others (Sounds familiar?). This would hardly be a surprising response if it weren’t given by residents of the Wet Tropics, of Australia, a developed country, for reasons which I won't discuss here in great detail due to the limited space of this post.
In fact, I have run out of space, but before I go, I would like to announce the winner of Justus award for the most zealous student interviewer……...And the award goes to…………SAM PEIKES (SMITH COLLEGE)
Student Sam Peikes preparing to approach a potential interviewee→ Tropical Rainforest Studies in Australia
[post_title] => Researching Community Perceptions of Climate Change in the Wet Tropics
[post_excerpt] => It had been a busy two weeks of data collection, which I reckon is the fun part of the directed research process.
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[post_title] => Justus Kithiia, Ph.D.
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[post_content] => The new ultra-modern Cairns Institute at James Cook University (JCU) recently played host to our students. Through our collaboration with JCU, the students spent an afternoon with Professor Abert Schram, a former SFS faculty member, now the Vice Chancellor of Papua New Guinea University Technology, who introduced them to Problem-Based Learning (PBL). The exercise involved addressing a real life issue, namely, the proposed development of a multi-billion dollar, Macau–style mega resort and casino in Yorkeys Knobs in Cairns' northern beaches. The project must pass environmental, social, and economic approval, and the developers are in the process of undertaking public consultation.
PBL involves students working together in small tutorial groups to develop and take responsibility for their own learning objectives. They take an active role to study literature to help them solve a complex problem. The process of finding the solution is structured and is as important as the solution itself.
After a brief introduction of the PBL process by Professor Schram, students leapt at the challenge with enthusiasm. The task before them was to identify the potential socio-economic and environmental factors surrounding this development and come up with sound recommendations. Professor Schram and I acted as tutors, but students led the discussions, identified learning objectives, divided tasks, and planned follow-up group meetings. I listened as students asked each other some good questions, such as, what do we know about the subject? What do we have to find out in order to solve the problem? The quality of the discussion was very high and I could tell from their demeanor that they enjoyed being in control of their own learning.
Later that week, students were welcomed at the Tablelands Regional Council (TRC) boardroom for a role-play exercise on the contested issue of sustainability. The exercise made the room—normally reserved for the orderly but often staid conduct of the council’s business—into a theatre abuzz with the excitement of learning.
[post_title] => Students Exposed to Problem-Based Learning
[post_excerpt] => The exercise Problem-Based Learning exercise involved addressing a real life issue, the proposed development of a multi-billion dollar, Macau–style mega resort and casino.
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[post_content] => How time flies! It’s hard to believe that it’s been two weeks since the start of the Directed Research (DR) at The Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS). Students have been grouped according to DR projects and friends who happen to be in different research groups rarely see each other anymore. We began by refreshing students on the details of the CRS 5-Year Research Plan as it relates to the DR courses, then each faculty member introduced his/her DR project for the semester. We also had a discussion to explore some of the ethical dilemmas in conducting research and examined procedures and approaches that are employed to overcome these problems.
This semester, there is an interesting mix of research projects which students have been able to choose from. These include the ecology of plants in primary rainforest; secondary succession on the Atherton Tablelands; the habitat use and behavior of arboreal mammals; understanding visitors’ perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes towards the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area; and seed dispersal in “Kickstart” pasture conversion plots.
One DR group, which affectionately refers to itself as ‘The Justus League," has straddled the length and breadth of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (WTWHA) conducting face-to-face interviews with visitors to this world-class natural refuge. This research is informed by the need to avail relevant information, which if implemented, could ensure the appropriate management of visitor sites so that services, facilities and recreational experiences are compatible with present opportunities, meet expectations, and continue to attract more tourists.
The group has visited the Daintree, Mission Beach, Kuranda, Mossman and Malanda Falls. I can tell from their demeanour that so far, they have enjoyed every moment of it. Well, not that they’ve had it easy; they’ve had to contend with rejections here and there! But they seem to have taken it in stride; it hasn’t in the least dampened their spirit. And this is what I love about working with students groups like "The Justus League" with real "GUTS" (read: Genuine Urge To Succeed).
Good luck with your DR projects, SFS students worldwide!
[post_title] => Students with ‘GUTS’ Conduct Key Research
[post_excerpt] => How time flies! It’s hard to believe that it’s been two weeks since the start of the Directed Research (DR) at The Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS).
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[post_content] => At the beginning of this semester, students had an interesting interaction with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal tribal group. Students went out on a field lecture on indigenous management of ‘country.’ Used in this sense, ‘country’ in Australia means an area of land and/or sea that traditionally belongs to an Aboriginal tribal group. The Mandingalbay Yidinji country lies east of Cairns across Trinity Inlet and includes a great diversity of environments, namely marine areas, mangroves, freshwater wetlands, rainforest-clad mountains, coastal plains, beaches, reefs and islands. During the visit, students learned about the traditional uses of plants, enjoyed a special lunch cooked in a ‘Kup murri’ (earth oven), and toured some sites on the country where there are particular environmental issues at the land/sea interface. We discussed the past and present day land management and institutional arrangements. Students also had an opportunity to visit Yarabah village, which we were informed is one of the largest Aboriginal settlements in Australia, but whose unemployment rate stands at 98%.
The MY people have established a separate entity, the Djunbunji Land and Sea Program, to conduct land management activities on their behalf. Lately, we have been engaging with the management of this program with a view toward establishing a more structured mutual cooperation. It is expected that this cooperation will, for the first time, afford our students the opportunity to do research directly with the Australian indigenous people. Research involving the indigenous people is increasingly difficult to undertake as accessing these communities can be quite challenging for various reasons. We are therefore very excited at the prospect of working long-term with the MY people, who are very keen to share aspects of their culture and homeland and plan to develop the skills and infrastructure to make the visit to their country memorable. They plan to do this by offering eco-tourism services and experiences on their country.
As a starting point in our cooperation, this semester, four lucky students will be conducting a case study on the potential for sustainable tourism on the MY country for their DR. It is envisaged that the findings of this study will help the management of Djunbunji Land and Sea Program to make evidence-based decisions on how to proceed with their eco-tourism business development plan.
[post_title] => Collaboration with Indigenous People Opens New Research Opportunities
[post_excerpt] => It is expected that this cooperation will, for the first time, afford our students the opportunity to do research directly with the Australian indigenous people.
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[post_content] => Our collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal tribe continues to offer students interesting opportunities to interact with and learn from the first nation Australians. Just in their second week of arriving in Australia, students have spent a day and a half on the country (Aboriginal country). During the day, students were guided around the country by local indigenous rangers. They learned about the traditional uses of plants, toured some sites on the country where there are particular environmental issues at the land-sea interface, and listened to talks given by traditional owners of the land. In the evening, students pitched camp in one of the designated camping areas. They were the second group of foreigners (the first was SFS Summer 2014 students) to be allowed to camp on MY country.
The MY country contains a diversity of environments from Trinity Inlet, near Cairns, over the Malbon Thompson Range, across the coastal plain to the south of Yarrabah and into the Coral Sea, including the Franklin Islands. Their country therefore includes both land and sea areas. They had their Native Title rights recognized in 2006 over their land, clearing the way for them to carry out traditional activities and help to manage and protect their country. At the same time, the MY people are very keen to share aspects of their culture and homeland and plan to develop skills and infrastructure to make visits to their country memorable.
The following morning, students visited Yarrabah village, one of the biggest Aboriginal settlements in Australia, with an estimated total population of 4,000 people. Yarrabah is an interesting place. Settled about 123 years ago, it was a mission station used to house indigenous children from all over Queensland. Coincidentally, the Chairman of the Board of Djunbunji Land and Sea Program, the entity formed by the MY people to manage their local renewables resources, is a former Mayor of Yarrabah Shire. Students had the opportunity to engage with the former mayor who stayed with us throughout the visit.
The aim of this excursion and visit was to help students to understand the array of social, cultural, economic, and political factors that shape resource management and use in Australia, especially from the indigenous people’s perspective.
[post_title] => Land, People, and Culture
[post_excerpt] => Our collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal tribe continues to offer students interesting opportunities to interact with and learn from the first nation Australians.
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[post_content] => SFS students embarked on their Directed Research (DR) projects nearly two week ago, and so far these have been progressing well. Whenever I talk to students, they always tell me how excited they are to be working on their own little project. Now, more than ever before, I can appreciate that while lectures may help students to understand concepts in a specific field, real life research forces them to think how to apply the concepts learnt in class.
Take for example my DR group of students who are working on a project on the demand and supply issues in indigenous tourism. The project involves conducting one-one one interviews with indigenous tourism operators and tourists in Far North Queensland. This is both a challenging and exciting undertaking. Anyone who has done research involving indigenous people in Australia can tell you how challenging it is. However, to my students, this was exciting in that it afforded them a rare chance to interact with, and learn from, the people with the oldest continuous living culture on the planet: the Aboriginal people of Australia.
Students talked of how this particular research has provided them with an opportunity for an informal interaction with study participants, which helped them to build self confidence in their research endeavour. One student remarked, “its one thing to learn about some of these things in class and from textbooks, but it’s another to experience them firsthand”. In the course of our surveys, I could see how students had immersed themselves in the context.
I could not help thinking that this is the kind of immersive experimental learning that alters the worldview of students and increases their intellectual autonomy. The SFS model, which gets students into the world through the lens of research, and places responsibility on them to look at the bigger picture, is one of the best ways of equipping future leaders.
[post_title] => Directed Research: Imagination, Exploration, and Innovation
[post_excerpt] => The project involves conducting one-one one interviews with indigenous tourism operators and tourists in Far North Queensland.
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[post_content] => "This is exactly what I know about Australia: one big red desert with kangaroos roaming all over the place." This is the confession I keep hearing from students whenever we travel to Chillagoe, an Outback area located about 3 hours drive from the SFS Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS). Chillagoe is a rather interesting place. One geologist described it as the "most geologically diverse area in the world." The area is characterised by mining heritage, limestone formations and caves, and Aboriginal art; all of which are nothing but spectacular. A smelter was built by the turn of the 20th century, but the whole mining venture in Chillagoe failed to live up to its promise. The area was subjected to various boom and bust resource extraction cycles, with the smelter finally closing during the Second World War.
The trip to Chillagoe helps students to appreciate the fact that, although mining may come with the promise of wealth and jobs, throughout the world, evidence show that it also results in high social and environmental costs. Chillagoe presents an important lesson, showing the early expansion of mining in Australia, and can be seen as a microcosm of many of the issues around mining and its broad effects on society and the environment. Students were somewhat shocked to learn that the town whose current population is approximately 150 people once had over 10,000 inhabitants. Nowadays, the main land use activity around Chilllagoe is cattle grazing.
Students had the opportunity to enjoy a guided tour of one of the numerous caves in the area.
This field trip shows that the Centre for Rainforest Studies is not always about studying the rainforest. We encourage students to integrate knowledge of the surrounding landscapes in order to gain a better understanding of integrated conservation management over large areas. This is based on the idea that the landscape is interconnected; hence, protected areas such as the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area suffer if the areas around them are badly degraded. Therefore, excursions to Chillagoe will be part of our routine for a long haul–future students can expect to enjoy this trip to Outback Australia!
[post_title] => Not Always About Rainforests
[post_excerpt] => Chillagoe, in the Australian Outback, has been described as the "most geologically diverse area in the world."
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[post_content] => Phew! We are looking at another 4 days to the end of the Direct Research (DR) period. As usual it has been a marathon for all of us at the SFS Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS). DR time is an interesting period in the lives of students and staff. The first two weeks are dedicated for data collection activities. The usual 9am-5pm routine is temporarily suspended, as data collection takes centre stage, with research groups dispersing to various study sites within the Wet Tropics. The excitement is not only in the success in obtaining good data, but also in the experiences which go with the process. Students share scintillating stories of how they got encumbered by wait-a-whiles (a notorious vine with nasty spines on the leaves and stalk), stung by rainforest stinging trees, encountered leeches, picked up numerous ticks, and so on. Although these encounters might sound piddly, they tend to be the most enduring memories of DR experiences. They are humorously shared in conversations with friends and family, on social media and so on -- they are the fun moments which remain etched in memory. I believe this is one of reasons why the SFS program unique. There are few opportunities for undergraduate students to undertake the kind of real world research which SFS students are exposed to.
This semester, students had an opportunity to choose from 3 projects focusing on: Indigenous tourism, tree kangaroos, and secondary forests. Consequently, there were 3 student research groups, one group for each of the projects. The Tree Roo group embarked on a mission to map the distribution of this cryptic arboreal marsupial within the Tablelands region. Research involving the very cute tree kangaroo is always popular with students. However, since this mammal is quite cryptic and arboreal, it calls for patience just to see it, let alone study it, while it is in its natural environment. That said, if the students’ enthusiasm in data analysis and write up is anything to go by, they will no doubt be coming up with interesting findings. I look forward to listening to their oral presentations.
Students who chose to research secondary forests succession spent time establishing transects to characterize various biotic and abiotic factors of the ecosystem. I’m told that the number of measurements involved in this type of study is mind-boggling. Students from this research group have to put in the hard yards; not to mention the usual encounters with leeches, wait-a-whiles, and ticks (the fun part!)
Students establishing transects. Photo courtesy of Lucy Portman.
The third group focused their inquiry on Indigenous tourism, visiting three of the most popular locations in far north Queensland, namely: Mossman Gorge, Rainforestation Nature Park, and Tjapukai. They surveyed visitors seeking Indigenous tourism experiences. Most tourists happily agreed to participate in the survey. However, truth be told, there were some rejections, which the students took in their strides. I believe the students’ research experiences were greatly enriched by their interactions with tourists in the course of their visit. They joined tourists in walking the trails, watched and participated in Aboriginal cultural dances, threw boomerangs, watched indigenous performers bellowing animal sounds through digeridoo and so on. And yes, they also had time to cuddle a Koala! It is not all work and no play.
DR students at Rainforestation Nature Park.→ Tropical Rainforest Studies in Australia
[post_title] => Leeches, Wait-a-Whiles, and Rejection
[post_excerpt] => The excitement is not only in the success in obtaining good data, but also in the experiences which go with the process.
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[post_content] => Our collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal community continues to grow in leaps and bounds. It has now become the norm for students to spend time on MY country, interacting with the Indigenous people, gaining hands on experience with their culture and management of local resources. Last week, the current group of students toured and camped on the MY country; and they have not stopped talking about the wonderful experience they had over there.
This past summer, Brenda Mundraby, an administrative assistant with the MY’s ranger program and a traditional owner, was the third Indigenous student to benefit from the SFS-CRS host country sponsorship program in the last 3 years. I thought I should use the remaining space to share Brenda’s reflections of the SFS Summer 1 program at CRS, in her own words and with her permission.
Brenda Mundraby: SFS Summer 1 2016.
Before leaving to go to New Zealand for the first 2 weeks of my program with The School for Field Studies, I was very nervous and unsure. Flying internationally for the first time and by myself made me feel anxious, but although I did not know my way around the airports I still managed to do so. As I landed at Auckland’s international airport I felt more relieved than ever.
I wasn’t quite sure about whether or not I would fit it. A few days went by and I began to memorize everyone’s names, we all began to talk to one another more and more. It felt like within a blink of an eye we knew one another for such a long amount of time. My friendships with 3 students by the names of Julianne, Nick and Caitlyn became strong because we got along so easily, I felt like I was at home again.
One of my favorite parts of the whole trip around New Zealand was at CUE Haven (a reforestation project) - the married couple was such an inspiration, so big hearted and very welcoming. Planting trees on their land was amazing. Doing something so easy but yet so great and appreciated was one of the highlights of my time at CUE Haven.
My other favorite part in New Zealand was staying at the Marae. The family around me felt like a blessing because while I was missing home so much, I felt like I was at home there. Their positive attitude, their family, culture and beliefs reminded me of mine as the indigenous cultures of Australia and New Zealand have so many similarities. The food was awesome at the Marae as well, I liked the hike we did with the Marae family, especially when we got to go through the fences to feel the spiritual connection, was something different but so interesting.
Coming back home to Australia, Cairns made me feel happy but also sad to leave the Maori country, but it won’t be the last visit. Being around Cairns, Atherton and the Daintree was a lot of fun, as I am a Cairns local and some of the places we visited happened to be my first time so it was something new. Being back in Australia also made me become closer with more of the students as they kept asking me about my culture, land and people and as an indigenous person I could answer them with what knowledge I had.
My favorite part of the Australia trip was coming to my work and country. I got to show everyone what I do as my career and what my people do to keep our culture strong. Camping at the ETR Campsite with the Djunbunji Rangers including my father was very fun indeed and it was great to also share my experiences with the rest of the students as it was my first time doing the MY Tours. I felt very happy when we visited Djunbunji, it was a great feeling to be home on my land after nearly 1 month of being away.
Overall I have made many lifetime friends and also experienced travelling internationally for the first time in which is a big step for me. I gained more knowledge and skills more than ever, and planting trees for a better lifestyle for our wildlife was amazing. We need to look after the beautiful environment around us for not only us but once again for our fauna and flora. I have learnt that you can make friends anywhere, have a lot of fun and laughter and also create new memories that will stay with you forever. If anyone asks me about my trip with SFS, I strongly recommend that they be a part of it. This trip has made me want to experience travelling and the environment in many areas even more. So thank you to the staff and students for making my trip the highlight of my 2016, it was an honor to have stayed with a bunch of amazing, outgoing and wonderful people who became lifetime friends.
→ Tropical Rainforest Studies in Australia
[post_title] => A Rewarding Collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji Aboriginal Community
[post_excerpt] => This past summer, Brenda Mundraby, an administrative assistant with the MY’s ranger program and a traditional owner, was the third Indigenous student to benefit from the SFS-CRS host country sponsorship program in the last 3 years.
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[post_content] => The "Communities and Climate Change" research group returning to the Centre after 2 days of conducting surveys. All photos courtesy of Alitza Shutt
The data collection phase of the directed research is over for this semester. It had been a busy two weeks of data collection, which I reckon is the fun part of the directed research process. Now, the challenging part of data analysis and reporting has begun. Students have the next two weeks to work on their final report. When you think about it, this deadline is quite close, as they are also expected to give oral presentations and design posters within the same period. I do not know how they do it, but they never disappoint. In 100% of the cases, they cruise through the process quite successfully, delivering praiseworthy reports.
I am looking forward to reading the reports from my DR groups of students, who are working on the communities and climate change project. The main objective of this project is to determine the local residents’ risk perceptions related to climate change. It is now clear that there is a growing skepticism between climate change science and public opinion. It beggars belief that this skepticism is mostly propagated by people who know little, if anything, about climate science; their only claim to fame being their voice and agency, which they use to leverage public opinion. At the same time, we know that climate science information tends to be limited by the scarcity of comprehensive and relevant data, pertinent to extreme events. For this reason, the issue of climate change remains both contested and polarizing.
Why, then, is risk perception important, one might ask. The thing is, that while the perception of risk is not the same as actual risk (e.g. which could be determined through modelling), it does provide some insight into how people may behave in the event of a climate change induced extreme event, and in the absence of the availability of actual data-sets. Therefore, an understanding of the perception of risk can provide a view into what people value, and what importance they place on certain factors, amidst climate change impacts. Such information is useful in determining how people will recover if these factors are affected during hazard events such as those associated with climate change. The current project is premised on the aforementioned observations.
In order to gather data for this study, students conducted surveys in Mission Beach, Innisfail, Herberton, Kuranda and Atherton towns within the Wet Tropics region where we are located. For these students, this was not only a time to gather data for their research project, but was also an opportunity to further interact with the local community members. Students have described to me how the interview experiences enriched their learning, as discussions tended to go beyond the scope of the information they were soliciting from the interviewees.
Student Chase Goldston interviewing a resident of Mission Beach
Although the findings of the study will be discussed in the final projects, which are due in two weeks’ time, I could not help noticing how surprised students were by some of the responses to the survey questions. In some cases, they received the most unexpected responses. For example, to the question of whether or not interviewees thought climate change was a threat to the Wet Tropics, a significant number of interviewees said that climate change is not real, that it is conspiracy theory hatched by some countries in order to limit the growth and influence of others (Sounds familiar?). This would hardly be a surprising response if it weren’t given by residents of the Wet Tropics, of Australia, a developed country, for reasons which I won't discuss here in great detail due to the limited space of this post.
In fact, I have run out of space, but before I go, I would like to announce the winner of Justus award for the most zealous student interviewer……...And the award goes to…………SAM PEIKES (SMITH COLLEGE)
Student Sam Peikes preparing to approach a potential interviewee→ Tropical Rainforest Studies in Australia
[post_title] => Researching Community Perceptions of Climate Change in the Wet Tropics
[post_excerpt] => It had been a busy two weeks of data collection, which I reckon is the fun part of the directed research process.
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[post_title] => Justus Kithiia, Ph.D.
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[post_content] => The new ultra-modern Cairns Institute at James Cook University (JCU) recently played host to our students. Through our collaboration with JCU, the students spent an afternoon with Professor Abert Schram, a former SFS faculty member, now the Vice Chancellor of Papua New Guinea University Technology, who introduced them to Problem-Based Learning (PBL). The exercise involved addressing a real life issue, namely, the proposed development of a multi-billion dollar, Macau–style mega resort and casino in Yorkeys Knobs in Cairns' northern beaches. The project must pass environmental, social, and economic approval, and the developers are in the process of undertaking public consultation.
PBL involves students working together in small tutorial groups to develop and take responsibility for their own learning objectives. They take an active role to study literature to help them solve a complex problem. The process of finding the solution is structured and is as important as the solution itself.
After a brief introduction of the PBL process by Professor Schram, students leapt at the challenge with enthusiasm. The task before them was to identify the potential socio-economic and environmental factors surrounding this development and come up with sound recommendations. Professor Schram and I acted as tutors, but students led the discussions, identified learning objectives, divided tasks, and planned follow-up group meetings. I listened as students asked each other some good questions, such as, what do we know about the subject? What do we have to find out in order to solve the problem? The quality of the discussion was very high and I could tell from their demeanor that they enjoyed being in control of their own learning.
Later that week, students were welcomed at the Tablelands Regional Council (TRC) boardroom for a role-play exercise on the contested issue of sustainability. The exercise made the room—normally reserved for the orderly but often staid conduct of the council’s business—into a theatre abuzz with the excitement of learning.
[post_title] => Students Exposed to Problem-Based Learning
[post_excerpt] => The exercise Problem-Based Learning exercise involved addressing a real life issue, the proposed development of a multi-billion dollar, Macau–style mega resort and casino.
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[post_content] => How time flies! It’s hard to believe that it’s been two weeks since the start of the Directed Research (DR) at The Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS). Students have been grouped according to DR projects and friends who happen to be in different research groups rarely see each other anymore. We began by refreshing students on the details of the CRS 5-Year Research Plan as it relates to the DR courses, then each faculty member introduced his/her DR project for the semester. We also had a discussion to explore some of the ethical dilemmas in conducting research and examined procedures and approaches that are employed to overcome these problems.
This semester, there is an interesting mix of research projects which students have been able to choose from. These include the ecology of plants in primary rainforest; secondary succession on the Atherton Tablelands; the habitat use and behavior of arboreal mammals; understanding visitors’ perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes towards the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area; and seed dispersal in “Kickstart” pasture conversion plots.
One DR group, which affectionately refers to itself as ‘The Justus League," has straddled the length and breadth of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (WTWHA) conducting face-to-face interviews with visitors to this world-class natural refuge. This research is informed by the need to avail relevant information, which if implemented, could ensure the appropriate management of visitor sites so that services, facilities and recreational experiences are compatible with present opportunities, meet expectations, and continue to attract more tourists.
The group has visited the Daintree, Mission Beach, Kuranda, Mossman and Malanda Falls. I can tell from their demeanour that so far, they have enjoyed every moment of it. Well, not that they’ve had it easy; they’ve had to contend with rejections here and there! But they seem to have taken it in stride; it hasn’t in the least dampened their spirit. And this is what I love about working with students groups like "The Justus League" with real "GUTS" (read: Genuine Urge To Succeed).
Good luck with your DR projects, SFS students worldwide!
[post_title] => Students with ‘GUTS’ Conduct Key Research
[post_excerpt] => How time flies! It’s hard to believe that it’s been two weeks since the start of the Directed Research (DR) at The Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS).
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[post_content] => At the beginning of this semester, students had an interesting interaction with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal tribal group. Students went out on a field lecture on indigenous management of ‘country.’ Used in this sense, ‘country’ in Australia means an area of land and/or sea that traditionally belongs to an Aboriginal tribal group. The Mandingalbay Yidinji country lies east of Cairns across Trinity Inlet and includes a great diversity of environments, namely marine areas, mangroves, freshwater wetlands, rainforest-clad mountains, coastal plains, beaches, reefs and islands. During the visit, students learned about the traditional uses of plants, enjoyed a special lunch cooked in a ‘Kup murri’ (earth oven), and toured some sites on the country where there are particular environmental issues at the land/sea interface. We discussed the past and present day land management and institutional arrangements. Students also had an opportunity to visit Yarabah village, which we were informed is one of the largest Aboriginal settlements in Australia, but whose unemployment rate stands at 98%.
The MY people have established a separate entity, the Djunbunji Land and Sea Program, to conduct land management activities on their behalf. Lately, we have been engaging with the management of this program with a view toward establishing a more structured mutual cooperation. It is expected that this cooperation will, for the first time, afford our students the opportunity to do research directly with the Australian indigenous people. Research involving the indigenous people is increasingly difficult to undertake as accessing these communities can be quite challenging for various reasons. We are therefore very excited at the prospect of working long-term with the MY people, who are very keen to share aspects of their culture and homeland and plan to develop the skills and infrastructure to make the visit to their country memorable. They plan to do this by offering eco-tourism services and experiences on their country.
As a starting point in our cooperation, this semester, four lucky students will be conducting a case study on the potential for sustainable tourism on the MY country for their DR. It is envisaged that the findings of this study will help the management of Djunbunji Land and Sea Program to make evidence-based decisions on how to proceed with their eco-tourism business development plan.
[post_title] => Collaboration with Indigenous People Opens New Research Opportunities
[post_excerpt] => It is expected that this cooperation will, for the first time, afford our students the opportunity to do research directly with the Australian indigenous people.
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[post_content] => Our collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal tribe continues to offer students interesting opportunities to interact with and learn from the first nation Australians. Just in their second week of arriving in Australia, students have spent a day and a half on the country (Aboriginal country). During the day, students were guided around the country by local indigenous rangers. They learned about the traditional uses of plants, toured some sites on the country where there are particular environmental issues at the land-sea interface, and listened to talks given by traditional owners of the land. In the evening, students pitched camp in one of the designated camping areas. They were the second group of foreigners (the first was SFS Summer 2014 students) to be allowed to camp on MY country.
The MY country contains a diversity of environments from Trinity Inlet, near Cairns, over the Malbon Thompson Range, across the coastal plain to the south of Yarrabah and into the Coral Sea, including the Franklin Islands. Their country therefore includes both land and sea areas. They had their Native Title rights recognized in 2006 over their land, clearing the way for them to carry out traditional activities and help to manage and protect their country. At the same time, the MY people are very keen to share aspects of their culture and homeland and plan to develop skills and infrastructure to make visits to their country memorable.
The following morning, students visited Yarrabah village, one of the biggest Aboriginal settlements in Australia, with an estimated total population of 4,000 people. Yarrabah is an interesting place. Settled about 123 years ago, it was a mission station used to house indigenous children from all over Queensland. Coincidentally, the Chairman of the Board of Djunbunji Land and Sea Program, the entity formed by the MY people to manage their local renewables resources, is a former Mayor of Yarrabah Shire. Students had the opportunity to engage with the former mayor who stayed with us throughout the visit.
The aim of this excursion and visit was to help students to understand the array of social, cultural, economic, and political factors that shape resource management and use in Australia, especially from the indigenous people’s perspective.
[post_title] => Land, People, and Culture
[post_excerpt] => Our collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal tribe continues to offer students interesting opportunities to interact with and learn from the first nation Australians.
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[post_content] => SFS students embarked on their Directed Research (DR) projects nearly two week ago, and so far these have been progressing well. Whenever I talk to students, they always tell me how excited they are to be working on their own little project. Now, more than ever before, I can appreciate that while lectures may help students to understand concepts in a specific field, real life research forces them to think how to apply the concepts learnt in class.
Take for example my DR group of students who are working on a project on the demand and supply issues in indigenous tourism. The project involves conducting one-one one interviews with indigenous tourism operators and tourists in Far North Queensland. This is both a challenging and exciting undertaking. Anyone who has done research involving indigenous people in Australia can tell you how challenging it is. However, to my students, this was exciting in that it afforded them a rare chance to interact with, and learn from, the people with the oldest continuous living culture on the planet: the Aboriginal people of Australia.
Students talked of how this particular research has provided them with an opportunity for an informal interaction with study participants, which helped them to build self confidence in their research endeavour. One student remarked, “its one thing to learn about some of these things in class and from textbooks, but it’s another to experience them firsthand”. In the course of our surveys, I could see how students had immersed themselves in the context.
I could not help thinking that this is the kind of immersive experimental learning that alters the worldview of students and increases their intellectual autonomy. The SFS model, which gets students into the world through the lens of research, and places responsibility on them to look at the bigger picture, is one of the best ways of equipping future leaders.
[post_title] => Directed Research: Imagination, Exploration, and Innovation
[post_excerpt] => The project involves conducting one-one one interviews with indigenous tourism operators and tourists in Far North Queensland.
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[post_content] => "This is exactly what I know about Australia: one big red desert with kangaroos roaming all over the place." This is the confession I keep hearing from students whenever we travel to Chillagoe, an Outback area located about 3 hours drive from the SFS Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS). Chillagoe is a rather interesting place. One geologist described it as the "most geologically diverse area in the world." The area is characterised by mining heritage, limestone formations and caves, and Aboriginal art; all of which are nothing but spectacular. A smelter was built by the turn of the 20th century, but the whole mining venture in Chillagoe failed to live up to its promise. The area was subjected to various boom and bust resource extraction cycles, with the smelter finally closing during the Second World War.
The trip to Chillagoe helps students to appreciate the fact that, although mining may come with the promise of wealth and jobs, throughout the world, evidence show that it also results in high social and environmental costs. Chillagoe presents an important lesson, showing the early expansion of mining in Australia, and can be seen as a microcosm of many of the issues around mining and its broad effects on society and the environment. Students were somewhat shocked to learn that the town whose current population is approximately 150 people once had over 10,000 inhabitants. Nowadays, the main land use activity around Chilllagoe is cattle grazing.
Students had the opportunity to enjoy a guided tour of one of the numerous caves in the area.
This field trip shows that the Centre for Rainforest Studies is not always about studying the rainforest. We encourage students to integrate knowledge of the surrounding landscapes in order to gain a better understanding of integrated conservation management over large areas. This is based on the idea that the landscape is interconnected; hence, protected areas such as the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area suffer if the areas around them are badly degraded. Therefore, excursions to Chillagoe will be part of our routine for a long haul–future students can expect to enjoy this trip to Outback Australia!
[post_title] => Not Always About Rainforests
[post_excerpt] => Chillagoe, in the Australian Outback, has been described as the "most geologically diverse area in the world."
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[post_content] => Phew! We are looking at another 4 days to the end of the Direct Research (DR) period. As usual it has been a marathon for all of us at the SFS Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS). DR time is an interesting period in the lives of students and staff. The first two weeks are dedicated for data collection activities. The usual 9am-5pm routine is temporarily suspended, as data collection takes centre stage, with research groups dispersing to various study sites within the Wet Tropics. The excitement is not only in the success in obtaining good data, but also in the experiences which go with the process. Students share scintillating stories of how they got encumbered by wait-a-whiles (a notorious vine with nasty spines on the leaves and stalk), stung by rainforest stinging trees, encountered leeches, picked up numerous ticks, and so on. Although these encounters might sound piddly, they tend to be the most enduring memories of DR experiences. They are humorously shared in conversations with friends and family, on social media and so on -- they are the fun moments which remain etched in memory. I believe this is one of reasons why the SFS program unique. There are few opportunities for undergraduate students to undertake the kind of real world research which SFS students are exposed to.
This semester, students had an opportunity to choose from 3 projects focusing on: Indigenous tourism, tree kangaroos, and secondary forests. Consequently, there were 3 student research groups, one group for each of the projects. The Tree Roo group embarked on a mission to map the distribution of this cryptic arboreal marsupial within the Tablelands region. Research involving the very cute tree kangaroo is always popular with students. However, since this mammal is quite cryptic and arboreal, it calls for patience just to see it, let alone study it, while it is in its natural environment. That said, if the students’ enthusiasm in data analysis and write up is anything to go by, they will no doubt be coming up with interesting findings. I look forward to listening to their oral presentations.
Students who chose to research secondary forests succession spent time establishing transects to characterize various biotic and abiotic factors of the ecosystem. I’m told that the number of measurements involved in this type of study is mind-boggling. Students from this research group have to put in the hard yards; not to mention the usual encounters with leeches, wait-a-whiles, and ticks (the fun part!)
Students establishing transects. Photo courtesy of Lucy Portman.
The third group focused their inquiry on Indigenous tourism, visiting three of the most popular locations in far north Queensland, namely: Mossman Gorge, Rainforestation Nature Park, and Tjapukai. They surveyed visitors seeking Indigenous tourism experiences. Most tourists happily agreed to participate in the survey. However, truth be told, there were some rejections, which the students took in their strides. I believe the students’ research experiences were greatly enriched by their interactions with tourists in the course of their visit. They joined tourists in walking the trails, watched and participated in Aboriginal cultural dances, threw boomerangs, watched indigenous performers bellowing animal sounds through digeridoo and so on. And yes, they also had time to cuddle a Koala! It is not all work and no play.
DR students at Rainforestation Nature Park.→ Tropical Rainforest Studies in Australia
[post_title] => Leeches, Wait-a-Whiles, and Rejection
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[post_content] => Our collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal community continues to grow in leaps and bounds. It has now become the norm for students to spend time on MY country, interacting with the Indigenous people, gaining hands on experience with their culture and management of local resources. Last week, the current group of students toured and camped on the MY country; and they have not stopped talking about the wonderful experience they had over there.
This past summer, Brenda Mundraby, an administrative assistant with the MY’s ranger program and a traditional owner, was the third Indigenous student to benefit from the SFS-CRS host country sponsorship program in the last 3 years. I thought I should use the remaining space to share Brenda’s reflections of the SFS Summer 1 program at CRS, in her own words and with her permission.
Brenda Mundraby: SFS Summer 1 2016.
Before leaving to go to New Zealand for the first 2 weeks of my program with The School for Field Studies, I was very nervous and unsure. Flying internationally for the first time and by myself made me feel anxious, but although I did not know my way around the airports I still managed to do so. As I landed at Auckland’s international airport I felt more relieved than ever.
I wasn’t quite sure about whether or not I would fit it. A few days went by and I began to memorize everyone’s names, we all began to talk to one another more and more. It felt like within a blink of an eye we knew one another for such a long amount of time. My friendships with 3 students by the names of Julianne, Nick and Caitlyn became strong because we got along so easily, I felt like I was at home again.
One of my favorite parts of the whole trip around New Zealand was at CUE Haven (a reforestation project) - the married couple was such an inspiration, so big hearted and very welcoming. Planting trees on their land was amazing. Doing something so easy but yet so great and appreciated was one of the highlights of my time at CUE Haven.
My other favorite part in New Zealand was staying at the Marae. The family around me felt like a blessing because while I was missing home so much, I felt like I was at home there. Their positive attitude, their family, culture and beliefs reminded me of mine as the indigenous cultures of Australia and New Zealand have so many similarities. The food was awesome at the Marae as well, I liked the hike we did with the Marae family, especially when we got to go through the fences to feel the spiritual connection, was something different but so interesting.
Coming back home to Australia, Cairns made me feel happy but also sad to leave the Maori country, but it won’t be the last visit. Being around Cairns, Atherton and the Daintree was a lot of fun, as I am a Cairns local and some of the places we visited happened to be my first time so it was something new. Being back in Australia also made me become closer with more of the students as they kept asking me about my culture, land and people and as an indigenous person I could answer them with what knowledge I had.
My favorite part of the Australia trip was coming to my work and country. I got to show everyone what I do as my career and what my people do to keep our culture strong. Camping at the ETR Campsite with the Djunbunji Rangers including my father was very fun indeed and it was great to also share my experiences with the rest of the students as it was my first time doing the MY Tours. I felt very happy when we visited Djunbunji, it was a great feeling to be home on my land after nearly 1 month of being away.
Overall I have made many lifetime friends and also experienced travelling internationally for the first time in which is a big step for me. I gained more knowledge and skills more than ever, and planting trees for a better lifestyle for our wildlife was amazing. We need to look after the beautiful environment around us for not only us but once again for our fauna and flora. I have learnt that you can make friends anywhere, have a lot of fun and laughter and also create new memories that will stay with you forever. If anyone asks me about my trip with SFS, I strongly recommend that they be a part of it. This trip has made me want to experience travelling and the environment in many areas even more. So thank you to the staff and students for making my trip the highlight of my 2016, it was an honor to have stayed with a bunch of amazing, outgoing and wonderful people who became lifetime friends.
→ Tropical Rainforest Studies in Australia
[post_title] => A Rewarding Collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji Aboriginal Community
[post_excerpt] => This past summer, Brenda Mundraby, an administrative assistant with the MY’s ranger program and a traditional owner, was the third Indigenous student to benefit from the SFS-CRS host country sponsorship program in the last 3 years.
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[post_content] => The "Communities and Climate Change" research group returning to the Centre after 2 days of conducting surveys. All photos courtesy of Alitza Shutt
The data collection phase of the directed research is over for this semester. It had been a busy two weeks of data collection, which I reckon is the fun part of the directed research process. Now, the challenging part of data analysis and reporting has begun. Students have the next two weeks to work on their final report. When you think about it, this deadline is quite close, as they are also expected to give oral presentations and design posters within the same period. I do not know how they do it, but they never disappoint. In 100% of the cases, they cruise through the process quite successfully, delivering praiseworthy reports.
I am looking forward to reading the reports from my DR groups of students, who are working on the communities and climate change project. The main objective of this project is to determine the local residents’ risk perceptions related to climate change. It is now clear that there is a growing skepticism between climate change science and public opinion. It beggars belief that this skepticism is mostly propagated by people who know little, if anything, about climate science; their only claim to fame being their voice and agency, which they use to leverage public opinion. At the same time, we know that climate science information tends to be limited by the scarcity of comprehensive and relevant data, pertinent to extreme events. For this reason, the issue of climate change remains both contested and polarizing.
Why, then, is risk perception important, one might ask. The thing is, that while the perception of risk is not the same as actual risk (e.g. which could be determined through modelling), it does provide some insight into how people may behave in the event of a climate change induced extreme event, and in the absence of the availability of actual data-sets. Therefore, an understanding of the perception of risk can provide a view into what people value, and what importance they place on certain factors, amidst climate change impacts. Such information is useful in determining how people will recover if these factors are affected during hazard events such as those associated with climate change. The current project is premised on the aforementioned observations.
In order to gather data for this study, students conducted surveys in Mission Beach, Innisfail, Herberton, Kuranda and Atherton towns within the Wet Tropics region where we are located. For these students, this was not only a time to gather data for their research project, but was also an opportunity to further interact with the local community members. Students have described to me how the interview experiences enriched their learning, as discussions tended to go beyond the scope of the information they were soliciting from the interviewees.
Student Chase Goldston interviewing a resident of Mission Beach
Although the findings of the study will be discussed in the final projects, which are due in two weeks’ time, I could not help noticing how surprised students were by some of the responses to the survey questions. In some cases, they received the most unexpected responses. For example, to the question of whether or not interviewees thought climate change was a threat to the Wet Tropics, a significant number of interviewees said that climate change is not real, that it is conspiracy theory hatched by some countries in order to limit the growth and influence of others (Sounds familiar?). This would hardly be a surprising response if it weren’t given by residents of the Wet Tropics, of Australia, a developed country, for reasons which I won't discuss here in great detail due to the limited space of this post.
In fact, I have run out of space, but before I go, I would like to announce the winner of Justus award for the most zealous student interviewer……...And the award goes to…………SAM PEIKES (SMITH COLLEGE)
Student Sam Peikes preparing to approach a potential interviewee→ Tropical Rainforest Studies in Australia
[post_title] => Researching Community Perceptions of Climate Change in the Wet Tropics
[post_excerpt] => It had been a busy two weeks of data collection, which I reckon is the fun part of the directed research process.
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[post_title] => Justus Kithiia, Ph.D.
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[post_content] => The new ultra-modern Cairns Institute at James Cook University (JCU) recently played host to our students. Through our collaboration with JCU, the students spent an afternoon with Professor Abert Schram, a former SFS faculty member, now the Vice Chancellor of Papua New Guinea University Technology, who introduced them to Problem-Based Learning (PBL). The exercise involved addressing a real life issue, namely, the proposed development of a multi-billion dollar, Macau–style mega resort and casino in Yorkeys Knobs in Cairns' northern beaches. The project must pass environmental, social, and economic approval, and the developers are in the process of undertaking public consultation.
PBL involves students working together in small tutorial groups to develop and take responsibility for their own learning objectives. They take an active role to study literature to help them solve a complex problem. The process of finding the solution is structured and is as important as the solution itself.
After a brief introduction of the PBL process by Professor Schram, students leapt at the challenge with enthusiasm. The task before them was to identify the potential socio-economic and environmental factors surrounding this development and come up with sound recommendations. Professor Schram and I acted as tutors, but students led the discussions, identified learning objectives, divided tasks, and planned follow-up group meetings. I listened as students asked each other some good questions, such as, what do we know about the subject? What do we have to find out in order to solve the problem? The quality of the discussion was very high and I could tell from their demeanor that they enjoyed being in control of their own learning.
Later that week, students were welcomed at the Tablelands Regional Council (TRC) boardroom for a role-play exercise on the contested issue of sustainability. The exercise made the room—normally reserved for the orderly but often staid conduct of the council’s business—into a theatre abuzz with the excitement of learning.
[post_title] => Students Exposed to Problem-Based Learning
[post_excerpt] => The exercise Problem-Based Learning exercise involved addressing a real life issue, the proposed development of a multi-billion dollar, Macau–style mega resort and casino.
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[post_content] => How time flies! It’s hard to believe that it’s been two weeks since the start of the Directed Research (DR) at The Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS). Students have been grouped according to DR projects and friends who happen to be in different research groups rarely see each other anymore. We began by refreshing students on the details of the CRS 5-Year Research Plan as it relates to the DR courses, then each faculty member introduced his/her DR project for the semester. We also had a discussion to explore some of the ethical dilemmas in conducting research and examined procedures and approaches that are employed to overcome these problems.
This semester, there is an interesting mix of research projects which students have been able to choose from. These include the ecology of plants in primary rainforest; secondary succession on the Atherton Tablelands; the habitat use and behavior of arboreal mammals; understanding visitors’ perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes towards the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area; and seed dispersal in “Kickstart” pasture conversion plots.
One DR group, which affectionately refers to itself as ‘The Justus League," has straddled the length and breadth of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (WTWHA) conducting face-to-face interviews with visitors to this world-class natural refuge. This research is informed by the need to avail relevant information, which if implemented, could ensure the appropriate management of visitor sites so that services, facilities and recreational experiences are compatible with present opportunities, meet expectations, and continue to attract more tourists.
The group has visited the Daintree, Mission Beach, Kuranda, Mossman and Malanda Falls. I can tell from their demeanour that so far, they have enjoyed every moment of it. Well, not that they’ve had it easy; they’ve had to contend with rejections here and there! But they seem to have taken it in stride; it hasn’t in the least dampened their spirit. And this is what I love about working with students groups like "The Justus League" with real "GUTS" (read: Genuine Urge To Succeed).
Good luck with your DR projects, SFS students worldwide!
[post_title] => Students with ‘GUTS’ Conduct Key Research
[post_excerpt] => How time flies! It’s hard to believe that it’s been two weeks since the start of the Directed Research (DR) at The Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS).
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[post_content] => At the beginning of this semester, students had an interesting interaction with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal tribal group. Students went out on a field lecture on indigenous management of ‘country.’ Used in this sense, ‘country’ in Australia means an area of land and/or sea that traditionally belongs to an Aboriginal tribal group. The Mandingalbay Yidinji country lies east of Cairns across Trinity Inlet and includes a great diversity of environments, namely marine areas, mangroves, freshwater wetlands, rainforest-clad mountains, coastal plains, beaches, reefs and islands. During the visit, students learned about the traditional uses of plants, enjoyed a special lunch cooked in a ‘Kup murri’ (earth oven), and toured some sites on the country where there are particular environmental issues at the land/sea interface. We discussed the past and present day land management and institutional arrangements. Students also had an opportunity to visit Yarabah village, which we were informed is one of the largest Aboriginal settlements in Australia, but whose unemployment rate stands at 98%.
The MY people have established a separate entity, the Djunbunji Land and Sea Program, to conduct land management activities on their behalf. Lately, we have been engaging with the management of this program with a view toward establishing a more structured mutual cooperation. It is expected that this cooperation will, for the first time, afford our students the opportunity to do research directly with the Australian indigenous people. Research involving the indigenous people is increasingly difficult to undertake as accessing these communities can be quite challenging for various reasons. We are therefore very excited at the prospect of working long-term with the MY people, who are very keen to share aspects of their culture and homeland and plan to develop the skills and infrastructure to make the visit to their country memorable. They plan to do this by offering eco-tourism services and experiences on their country.
As a starting point in our cooperation, this semester, four lucky students will be conducting a case study on the potential for sustainable tourism on the MY country for their DR. It is envisaged that the findings of this study will help the management of Djunbunji Land and Sea Program to make evidence-based decisions on how to proceed with their eco-tourism business development plan.
[post_title] => Collaboration with Indigenous People Opens New Research Opportunities
[post_excerpt] => It is expected that this cooperation will, for the first time, afford our students the opportunity to do research directly with the Australian indigenous people.
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[post_content] => Our collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal tribe continues to offer students interesting opportunities to interact with and learn from the first nation Australians. Just in their second week of arriving in Australia, students have spent a day and a half on the country (Aboriginal country). During the day, students were guided around the country by local indigenous rangers. They learned about the traditional uses of plants, toured some sites on the country where there are particular environmental issues at the land-sea interface, and listened to talks given by traditional owners of the land. In the evening, students pitched camp in one of the designated camping areas. They were the second group of foreigners (the first was SFS Summer 2014 students) to be allowed to camp on MY country.
The MY country contains a diversity of environments from Trinity Inlet, near Cairns, over the Malbon Thompson Range, across the coastal plain to the south of Yarrabah and into the Coral Sea, including the Franklin Islands. Their country therefore includes both land and sea areas. They had their Native Title rights recognized in 2006 over their land, clearing the way for them to carry out traditional activities and help to manage and protect their country. At the same time, the MY people are very keen to share aspects of their culture and homeland and plan to develop skills and infrastructure to make visits to their country memorable.
The following morning, students visited Yarrabah village, one of the biggest Aboriginal settlements in Australia, with an estimated total population of 4,000 people. Yarrabah is an interesting place. Settled about 123 years ago, it was a mission station used to house indigenous children from all over Queensland. Coincidentally, the Chairman of the Board of Djunbunji Land and Sea Program, the entity formed by the MY people to manage their local renewables resources, is a former Mayor of Yarrabah Shire. Students had the opportunity to engage with the former mayor who stayed with us throughout the visit.
The aim of this excursion and visit was to help students to understand the array of social, cultural, economic, and political factors that shape resource management and use in Australia, especially from the indigenous people’s perspective.
[post_title] => Land, People, and Culture
[post_excerpt] => Our collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal tribe continues to offer students interesting opportunities to interact with and learn from the first nation Australians.
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[post_content] => SFS students embarked on their Directed Research (DR) projects nearly two week ago, and so far these have been progressing well. Whenever I talk to students, they always tell me how excited they are to be working on their own little project. Now, more than ever before, I can appreciate that while lectures may help students to understand concepts in a specific field, real life research forces them to think how to apply the concepts learnt in class.
Take for example my DR group of students who are working on a project on the demand and supply issues in indigenous tourism. The project involves conducting one-one one interviews with indigenous tourism operators and tourists in Far North Queensland. This is both a challenging and exciting undertaking. Anyone who has done research involving indigenous people in Australia can tell you how challenging it is. However, to my students, this was exciting in that it afforded them a rare chance to interact with, and learn from, the people with the oldest continuous living culture on the planet: the Aboriginal people of Australia.
Students talked of how this particular research has provided them with an opportunity for an informal interaction with study participants, which helped them to build self confidence in their research endeavour. One student remarked, “its one thing to learn about some of these things in class and from textbooks, but it’s another to experience them firsthand”. In the course of our surveys, I could see how students had immersed themselves in the context.
I could not help thinking that this is the kind of immersive experimental learning that alters the worldview of students and increases their intellectual autonomy. The SFS model, which gets students into the world through the lens of research, and places responsibility on them to look at the bigger picture, is one of the best ways of equipping future leaders.
[post_title] => Directed Research: Imagination, Exploration, and Innovation
[post_excerpt] => The project involves conducting one-one one interviews with indigenous tourism operators and tourists in Far North Queensland.
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[post_content] => "This is exactly what I know about Australia: one big red desert with kangaroos roaming all over the place." This is the confession I keep hearing from students whenever we travel to Chillagoe, an Outback area located about 3 hours drive from the SFS Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS). Chillagoe is a rather interesting place. One geologist described it as the "most geologically diverse area in the world." The area is characterised by mining heritage, limestone formations and caves, and Aboriginal art; all of which are nothing but spectacular. A smelter was built by the turn of the 20th century, but the whole mining venture in Chillagoe failed to live up to its promise. The area was subjected to various boom and bust resource extraction cycles, with the smelter finally closing during the Second World War.
The trip to Chillagoe helps students to appreciate the fact that, although mining may come with the promise of wealth and jobs, throughout the world, evidence show that it also results in high social and environmental costs. Chillagoe presents an important lesson, showing the early expansion of mining in Australia, and can be seen as a microcosm of many of the issues around mining and its broad effects on society and the environment. Students were somewhat shocked to learn that the town whose current population is approximately 150 people once had over 10,000 inhabitants. Nowadays, the main land use activity around Chilllagoe is cattle grazing.
Students had the opportunity to enjoy a guided tour of one of the numerous caves in the area.
This field trip shows that the Centre for Rainforest Studies is not always about studying the rainforest. We encourage students to integrate knowledge of the surrounding landscapes in order to gain a better understanding of integrated conservation management over large areas. This is based on the idea that the landscape is interconnected; hence, protected areas such as the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area suffer if the areas around them are badly degraded. Therefore, excursions to Chillagoe will be part of our routine for a long haul–future students can expect to enjoy this trip to Outback Australia!
[post_title] => Not Always About Rainforests
[post_excerpt] => Chillagoe, in the Australian Outback, has been described as the "most geologically diverse area in the world."
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[post_content] => Phew! We are looking at another 4 days to the end of the Direct Research (DR) period. As usual it has been a marathon for all of us at the SFS Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS). DR time is an interesting period in the lives of students and staff. The first two weeks are dedicated for data collection activities. The usual 9am-5pm routine is temporarily suspended, as data collection takes centre stage, with research groups dispersing to various study sites within the Wet Tropics. The excitement is not only in the success in obtaining good data, but also in the experiences which go with the process. Students share scintillating stories of how they got encumbered by wait-a-whiles (a notorious vine with nasty spines on the leaves and stalk), stung by rainforest stinging trees, encountered leeches, picked up numerous ticks, and so on. Although these encounters might sound piddly, they tend to be the most enduring memories of DR experiences. They are humorously shared in conversations with friends and family, on social media and so on -- they are the fun moments which remain etched in memory. I believe this is one of reasons why the SFS program unique. There are few opportunities for undergraduate students to undertake the kind of real world research which SFS students are exposed to.
This semester, students had an opportunity to choose from 3 projects focusing on: Indigenous tourism, tree kangaroos, and secondary forests. Consequently, there were 3 student research groups, one group for each of the projects. The Tree Roo group embarked on a mission to map the distribution of this cryptic arboreal marsupial within the Tablelands region. Research involving the very cute tree kangaroo is always popular with students. However, since this mammal is quite cryptic and arboreal, it calls for patience just to see it, let alone study it, while it is in its natural environment. That said, if the students’ enthusiasm in data analysis and write up is anything to go by, they will no doubt be coming up with interesting findings. I look forward to listening to their oral presentations.
Students who chose to research secondary forests succession spent time establishing transects to characterize various biotic and abiotic factors of the ecosystem. I’m told that the number of measurements involved in this type of study is mind-boggling. Students from this research group have to put in the hard yards; not to mention the usual encounters with leeches, wait-a-whiles, and ticks (the fun part!)
Students establishing transects. Photo courtesy of Lucy Portman.
The third group focused their inquiry on Indigenous tourism, visiting three of the most popular locations in far north Queensland, namely: Mossman Gorge, Rainforestation Nature Park, and Tjapukai. They surveyed visitors seeking Indigenous tourism experiences. Most tourists happily agreed to participate in the survey. However, truth be told, there were some rejections, which the students took in their strides. I believe the students’ research experiences were greatly enriched by their interactions with tourists in the course of their visit. They joined tourists in walking the trails, watched and participated in Aboriginal cultural dances, threw boomerangs, watched indigenous performers bellowing animal sounds through digeridoo and so on. And yes, they also had time to cuddle a Koala! It is not all work and no play.
DR students at Rainforestation Nature Park.→ Tropical Rainforest Studies in Australia
[post_title] => Leeches, Wait-a-Whiles, and Rejection
[post_excerpt] => The excitement is not only in the success in obtaining good data, but also in the experiences which go with the process.
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[post_content] => Our collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal community continues to grow in leaps and bounds. It has now become the norm for students to spend time on MY country, interacting with the Indigenous people, gaining hands on experience with their culture and management of local resources. Last week, the current group of students toured and camped on the MY country; and they have not stopped talking about the wonderful experience they had over there.
This past summer, Brenda Mundraby, an administrative assistant with the MY’s ranger program and a traditional owner, was the third Indigenous student to benefit from the SFS-CRS host country sponsorship program in the last 3 years. I thought I should use the remaining space to share Brenda’s reflections of the SFS Summer 1 program at CRS, in her own words and with her permission.
Brenda Mundraby: SFS Summer 1 2016.
Before leaving to go to New Zealand for the first 2 weeks of my program with The School for Field Studies, I was very nervous and unsure. Flying internationally for the first time and by myself made me feel anxious, but although I did not know my way around the airports I still managed to do so. As I landed at Auckland’s international airport I felt more relieved than ever.
I wasn’t quite sure about whether or not I would fit it. A few days went by and I began to memorize everyone’s names, we all began to talk to one another more and more. It felt like within a blink of an eye we knew one another for such a long amount of time. My friendships with 3 students by the names of Julianne, Nick and Caitlyn became strong because we got along so easily, I felt like I was at home again.
One of my favorite parts of the whole trip around New Zealand was at CUE Haven (a reforestation project) - the married couple was such an inspiration, so big hearted and very welcoming. Planting trees on their land was amazing. Doing something so easy but yet so great and appreciated was one of the highlights of my time at CUE Haven.
My other favorite part in New Zealand was staying at the Marae. The family around me felt like a blessing because while I was missing home so much, I felt like I was at home there. Their positive attitude, their family, culture and beliefs reminded me of mine as the indigenous cultures of Australia and New Zealand have so many similarities. The food was awesome at the Marae as well, I liked the hike we did with the Marae family, especially when we got to go through the fences to feel the spiritual connection, was something different but so interesting.
Coming back home to Australia, Cairns made me feel happy but also sad to leave the Maori country, but it won’t be the last visit. Being around Cairns, Atherton and the Daintree was a lot of fun, as I am a Cairns local and some of the places we visited happened to be my first time so it was something new. Being back in Australia also made me become closer with more of the students as they kept asking me about my culture, land and people and as an indigenous person I could answer them with what knowledge I had.
My favorite part of the Australia trip was coming to my work and country. I got to show everyone what I do as my career and what my people do to keep our culture strong. Camping at the ETR Campsite with the Djunbunji Rangers including my father was very fun indeed and it was great to also share my experiences with the rest of the students as it was my first time doing the MY Tours. I felt very happy when we visited Djunbunji, it was a great feeling to be home on my land after nearly 1 month of being away.
Overall I have made many lifetime friends and also experienced travelling internationally for the first time in which is a big step for me. I gained more knowledge and skills more than ever, and planting trees for a better lifestyle for our wildlife was amazing. We need to look after the beautiful environment around us for not only us but once again for our fauna and flora. I have learnt that you can make friends anywhere, have a lot of fun and laughter and also create new memories that will stay with you forever. If anyone asks me about my trip with SFS, I strongly recommend that they be a part of it. This trip has made me want to experience travelling and the environment in many areas even more. So thank you to the staff and students for making my trip the highlight of my 2016, it was an honor to have stayed with a bunch of amazing, outgoing and wonderful people who became lifetime friends.
→ Tropical Rainforest Studies in Australia
[post_title] => A Rewarding Collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji Aboriginal Community
[post_excerpt] => This past summer, Brenda Mundraby, an administrative assistant with the MY’s ranger program and a traditional owner, was the third Indigenous student to benefit from the SFS-CRS host country sponsorship program in the last 3 years.
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[post_content] => The "Communities and Climate Change" research group returning to the Centre after 2 days of conducting surveys. All photos courtesy of Alitza Shutt
The data collection phase of the directed research is over for this semester. It had been a busy two weeks of data collection, which I reckon is the fun part of the directed research process. Now, the challenging part of data analysis and reporting has begun. Students have the next two weeks to work on their final report. When you think about it, this deadline is quite close, as they are also expected to give oral presentations and design posters within the same period. I do not know how they do it, but they never disappoint. In 100% of the cases, they cruise through the process quite successfully, delivering praiseworthy reports.
I am looking forward to reading the reports from my DR groups of students, who are working on the communities and climate change project. The main objective of this project is to determine the local residents’ risk perceptions related to climate change. It is now clear that there is a growing skepticism between climate change science and public opinion. It beggars belief that this skepticism is mostly propagated by people who know little, if anything, about climate science; their only claim to fame being their voice and agency, which they use to leverage public opinion. At the same time, we know that climate science information tends to be limited by the scarcity of comprehensive and relevant data, pertinent to extreme events. For this reason, the issue of climate change remains both contested and polarizing.
Why, then, is risk perception important, one might ask. The thing is, that while the perception of risk is not the same as actual risk (e.g. which could be determined through modelling), it does provide some insight into how people may behave in the event of a climate change induced extreme event, and in the absence of the availability of actual data-sets. Therefore, an understanding of the perception of risk can provide a view into what people value, and what importance they place on certain factors, amidst climate change impacts. Such information is useful in determining how people will recover if these factors are affected during hazard events such as those associated with climate change. The current project is premised on the aforementioned observations.
In order to gather data for this study, students conducted surveys in Mission Beach, Innisfail, Herberton, Kuranda and Atherton towns within the Wet Tropics region where we are located. For these students, this was not only a time to gather data for their research project, but was also an opportunity to further interact with the local community members. Students have described to me how the interview experiences enriched their learning, as discussions tended to go beyond the scope of the information they were soliciting from the interviewees.
Student Chase Goldston interviewing a resident of Mission Beach
Although the findings of the study will be discussed in the final projects, which are due in two weeks’ time, I could not help noticing how surprised students were by some of the responses to the survey questions. In some cases, they received the most unexpected responses. For example, to the question of whether or not interviewees thought climate change was a threat to the Wet Tropics, a significant number of interviewees said that climate change is not real, that it is conspiracy theory hatched by some countries in order to limit the growth and influence of others (Sounds familiar?). This would hardly be a surprising response if it weren’t given by residents of the Wet Tropics, of Australia, a developed country, for reasons which I won't discuss here in great detail due to the limited space of this post.
In fact, I have run out of space, but before I go, I would like to announce the winner of Justus award for the most zealous student interviewer……...And the award goes to…………SAM PEIKES (SMITH COLLEGE)
Student Sam Peikes preparing to approach a potential interviewee→ Tropical Rainforest Studies in Australia
[post_title] => Researching Community Perceptions of Climate Change in the Wet Tropics
[post_excerpt] => It had been a busy two weeks of data collection, which I reckon is the fun part of the directed research process.
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Directed Research: Imagination, Exploration, and Innovation
SFS students embarked on their Directed Research (DR) projects nearly two week ago, and so far these have been progressing well. Whenever I talk to students, they always tell me how excited they are to be working on their own little project. Now, more than ever before, I can appreciate that while lectures may help students to understand concepts in a specific field, real life research forces them to think how to apply the concepts learnt in class.
Take for example my DR group of students who are working on a project on the demand and supply issues in indigenous tourism. The project involves conducting one-one one interviews with indigenous tourism operators and tourists in Far North Queensland. This is both a challenging and exciting undertaking. Anyone who has done research involving indigenous people in Australia can tell you how challenging it is. However, to my students, this was exciting in that it afforded them a rare chance to interact with, and learn from, the people with the oldest continuous living culture on the planet: the Aboriginal people of Australia.
Students talked of how this particular research has provided them with an opportunity for an informal interaction with study participants, which helped them to build self confidence in their research endeavour. One student remarked, “its one thing to learn about some of these things in class and from textbooks, but it’s another to experience them firsthand”. In the course of our surveys, I could see how students had immersed themselves in the context.
I could not help thinking that this is the kind of immersive experimental learning that alters the worldview of students and increases their intellectual autonomy. The SFS model, which gets students into the world through the lens of research, and places responsibility on them to look at the bigger picture, is one of the best ways of equipping future leaders.
PBL involves students working together in small tutorial groups to develop and take responsibility for their own learning objectives. They take an active role to study literature to help them solve a complex problem. The process of finding the solution is structured and is as important as the solution itself.
After a brief introduction of the PBL process by Professor Schram, students leapt at the challenge with enthusiasm. The task before them was to identify the potential socio-economic and environmental factors surrounding this development and come up with sound recommendations. Professor Schram and I acted as tutors, but students led the discussions, identified learning objectives, divided tasks, and planned follow-up group meetings. I listened as students asked each other some good questions, such as, what do we know about the subject? What do we have to find out in order to solve the problem? The quality of the discussion was very high and I could tell from their demeanor that they enjoyed being in control of their own learning.
Later that week, students were welcomed at the Tablelands Regional Council (TRC) boardroom for a role-play exercise on the contested issue of sustainability. The exercise made the room—normally reserved for the orderly but often staid conduct of the council’s business—into a theatre abuzz with the excitement of learning.
[post_title] => Students Exposed to Problem-Based Learning
[post_excerpt] => The exercise Problem-Based Learning exercise involved addressing a real life issue, the proposed development of a multi-billion dollar, Macau–style mega resort and casino.
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[post_content] => How time flies! It’s hard to believe that it’s been two weeks since the start of the Directed Research (DR) at The Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS). Students have been grouped according to DR projects and friends who happen to be in different research groups rarely see each other anymore. We began by refreshing students on the details of the CRS 5-Year Research Plan as it relates to the DR courses, then each faculty member introduced his/her DR project for the semester. We also had a discussion to explore some of the ethical dilemmas in conducting research and examined procedures and approaches that are employed to overcome these problems.
This semester, there is an interesting mix of research projects which students have been able to choose from. These include the ecology of plants in primary rainforest; secondary succession on the Atherton Tablelands; the habitat use and behavior of arboreal mammals; understanding visitors’ perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes towards the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area; and seed dispersal in “Kickstart” pasture conversion plots.
One DR group, which affectionately refers to itself as ‘The Justus League," has straddled the length and breadth of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (WTWHA) conducting face-to-face interviews with visitors to this world-class natural refuge. This research is informed by the need to avail relevant information, which if implemented, could ensure the appropriate management of visitor sites so that services, facilities and recreational experiences are compatible with present opportunities, meet expectations, and continue to attract more tourists.
The group has visited the Daintree, Mission Beach, Kuranda, Mossman and Malanda Falls. I can tell from their demeanour that so far, they have enjoyed every moment of it. Well, not that they’ve had it easy; they’ve had to contend with rejections here and there! But they seem to have taken it in stride; it hasn’t in the least dampened their spirit. And this is what I love about working with students groups like "The Justus League" with real "GUTS" (read: Genuine Urge To Succeed).
Good luck with your DR projects, SFS students worldwide!
[post_title] => Students with ‘GUTS’ Conduct Key Research
[post_excerpt] => How time flies! It’s hard to believe that it’s been two weeks since the start of the Directed Research (DR) at The Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS).
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[post_content] => At the beginning of this semester, students had an interesting interaction with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal tribal group. Students went out on a field lecture on indigenous management of ‘country.’ Used in this sense, ‘country’ in Australia means an area of land and/or sea that traditionally belongs to an Aboriginal tribal group. The Mandingalbay Yidinji country lies east of Cairns across Trinity Inlet and includes a great diversity of environments, namely marine areas, mangroves, freshwater wetlands, rainforest-clad mountains, coastal plains, beaches, reefs and islands. During the visit, students learned about the traditional uses of plants, enjoyed a special lunch cooked in a ‘Kup murri’ (earth oven), and toured some sites on the country where there are particular environmental issues at the land/sea interface. We discussed the past and present day land management and institutional arrangements. Students also had an opportunity to visit Yarabah village, which we were informed is one of the largest Aboriginal settlements in Australia, but whose unemployment rate stands at 98%.
The MY people have established a separate entity, the Djunbunji Land and Sea Program, to conduct land management activities on their behalf. Lately, we have been engaging with the management of this program with a view toward establishing a more structured mutual cooperation. It is expected that this cooperation will, for the first time, afford our students the opportunity to do research directly with the Australian indigenous people. Research involving the indigenous people is increasingly difficult to undertake as accessing these communities can be quite challenging for various reasons. We are therefore very excited at the prospect of working long-term with the MY people, who are very keen to share aspects of their culture and homeland and plan to develop the skills and infrastructure to make the visit to their country memorable. They plan to do this by offering eco-tourism services and experiences on their country.
As a starting point in our cooperation, this semester, four lucky students will be conducting a case study on the potential for sustainable tourism on the MY country for their DR. It is envisaged that the findings of this study will help the management of Djunbunji Land and Sea Program to make evidence-based decisions on how to proceed with their eco-tourism business development plan.
[post_title] => Collaboration with Indigenous People Opens New Research Opportunities
[post_excerpt] => It is expected that this cooperation will, for the first time, afford our students the opportunity to do research directly with the Australian indigenous people.
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[post_content] => Our collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal tribe continues to offer students interesting opportunities to interact with and learn from the first nation Australians. Just in their second week of arriving in Australia, students have spent a day and a half on the country (Aboriginal country). During the day, students were guided around the country by local indigenous rangers. They learned about the traditional uses of plants, toured some sites on the country where there are particular environmental issues at the land-sea interface, and listened to talks given by traditional owners of the land. In the evening, students pitched camp in one of the designated camping areas. They were the second group of foreigners (the first was SFS Summer 2014 students) to be allowed to camp on MY country.
The MY country contains a diversity of environments from Trinity Inlet, near Cairns, over the Malbon Thompson Range, across the coastal plain to the south of Yarrabah and into the Coral Sea, including the Franklin Islands. Their country therefore includes both land and sea areas. They had their Native Title rights recognized in 2006 over their land, clearing the way for them to carry out traditional activities and help to manage and protect their country. At the same time, the MY people are very keen to share aspects of their culture and homeland and plan to develop skills and infrastructure to make visits to their country memorable.
The following morning, students visited Yarrabah village, one of the biggest Aboriginal settlements in Australia, with an estimated total population of 4,000 people. Yarrabah is an interesting place. Settled about 123 years ago, it was a mission station used to house indigenous children from all over Queensland. Coincidentally, the Chairman of the Board of Djunbunji Land and Sea Program, the entity formed by the MY people to manage their local renewables resources, is a former Mayor of Yarrabah Shire. Students had the opportunity to engage with the former mayor who stayed with us throughout the visit.
The aim of this excursion and visit was to help students to understand the array of social, cultural, economic, and political factors that shape resource management and use in Australia, especially from the indigenous people’s perspective.
[post_title] => Land, People, and Culture
[post_excerpt] => Our collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal tribe continues to offer students interesting opportunities to interact with and learn from the first nation Australians.
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[post_content] => SFS students embarked on their Directed Research (DR) projects nearly two week ago, and so far these have been progressing well. Whenever I talk to students, they always tell me how excited they are to be working on their own little project. Now, more than ever before, I can appreciate that while lectures may help students to understand concepts in a specific field, real life research forces them to think how to apply the concepts learnt in class.
Take for example my DR group of students who are working on a project on the demand and supply issues in indigenous tourism. The project involves conducting one-one one interviews with indigenous tourism operators and tourists in Far North Queensland. This is both a challenging and exciting undertaking. Anyone who has done research involving indigenous people in Australia can tell you how challenging it is. However, to my students, this was exciting in that it afforded them a rare chance to interact with, and learn from, the people with the oldest continuous living culture on the planet: the Aboriginal people of Australia.
The trip to Chillagoe helps students to appreciate the fact that, although mining may come with the promise of wealth and jobs, throughout the world, evidence show that it also results in high social and environmental costs. Chillagoe presents an important lesson, showing the early expansion of mining in Australia, and can be seen as a microcosm of many of the issues around mining and its broad effects on society and the environment. Students were somewhat shocked to learn that the town whose current population is approximately 150 people once had over 10,000 inhabitants. Nowadays, the main land use activity around Chilllagoe is cattle grazing.
Students had the opportunity to enjoy a guided tour of one of the numerous caves in the area.
This field trip shows that the Centre for Rainforest Studies is not always about studying the rainforest. We encourage students to integrate knowledge of the surrounding landscapes in order to gain a better understanding of integrated conservation management over large areas. This is based on the idea that the landscape is interconnected; hence, protected areas such as the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area suffer if the areas around them are badly degraded. Therefore, excursions to Chillagoe will be part of our routine for a long haul–future students can expect to enjoy this trip to Outback Australia!
[post_title] => Not Always About Rainforests
[post_excerpt] => Chillagoe, in the Australian Outback, has been described as the "most geologically diverse area in the world."
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[post_content] => Phew! We are looking at another 4 days to the end of the Direct Research (DR) period. As usual it has been a marathon for all of us at the SFS Center for Rainforest Studies (CRS). DR time is an interesting period in the lives of students and staff. The first two weeks are dedicated for data collection activities. The usual 9am-5pm routine is temporarily suspended, as data collection takes centre stage, with research groups dispersing to various study sites within the Wet Tropics. The excitement is not only in the success in obtaining good data, but also in the experiences which go with the process. Students share scintillating stories of how they got encumbered by wait-a-whiles (a notorious vine with nasty spines on the leaves and stalk), stung by rainforest stinging trees, encountered leeches, picked up numerous ticks, and so on. Although these encounters might sound piddly, they tend to be the most enduring memories of DR experiences. They are humorously shared in conversations with friends and family, on social media and so on -- they are the fun moments which remain etched in memory. I believe this is one of reasons why the SFS program unique. There are few opportunities for undergraduate students to undertake the kind of real world research which SFS students are exposed to.
This semester, students had an opportunity to choose from 3 projects focusing on: Indigenous tourism, tree kangaroos, and secondary forests. Consequently, there were 3 student research groups, one group for each of the projects. The Tree Roo group embarked on a mission to map the distribution of this cryptic arboreal marsupial within the Tablelands region. Research involving the very cute tree kangaroo is always popular with students. However, since this mammal is quite cryptic and arboreal, it calls for patience just to see it, let alone study it, while it is in its natural environment. That said, if the students’ enthusiasm in data analysis and write up is anything to go by, they will no doubt be coming up with interesting findings. I look forward to listening to their oral presentations.
Students who chose to research secondary forests succession spent time establishing transects to characterize various biotic and abiotic factors of the ecosystem. I’m told that the number of measurements involved in this type of study is mind-boggling. Students from this research group have to put in the hard yards; not to mention the usual encounters with leeches, wait-a-whiles, and ticks (the fun part!)
Students establishing transects. Photo courtesy of Lucy Portman.
The third group focused their inquiry on Indigenous tourism, visiting three of the most popular locations in far north Queensland, namely: Mossman Gorge, Rainforestation Nature Park, and Tjapukai. They surveyed visitors seeking Indigenous tourism experiences. Most tourists happily agreed to participate in the survey. However, truth be told, there were some rejections, which the students took in their strides. I believe the students’ research experiences were greatly enriched by their interactions with tourists in the course of their visit. They joined tourists in walking the trails, watched and participated in Aboriginal cultural dances, threw boomerangs, watched indigenous performers bellowing animal sounds through digeridoo and so on. And yes, they also had time to cuddle a Koala! It is not all work and no play.
DR students at Rainforestation Nature Park.
→ Tropical Rainforest Studies in Australia
[post_title] => Leeches, Wait-a-Whiles, and Rejection
[post_excerpt] => The excitement is not only in the success in obtaining good data, but also in the experiences which go with the process.
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[post_content] => Our collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) Aboriginal community continues to grow in leaps and bounds. It has now become the norm for students to spend time on MY country, interacting with the Indigenous people, gaining hands on experience with their culture and management of local resources. Last week, the current group of students toured and camped on the MY country; and they have not stopped talking about the wonderful experience they had over there.
This past summer, Brenda Mundraby, an administrative assistant with the MY’s ranger program and a traditional owner, was the third Indigenous student to benefit from the SFS-CRS host country sponsorship program in the last 3 years. I thought I should use the remaining space to share Brenda’s reflections of the SFS Summer 1 program at CRS, in her own words and with her permission.
Brenda Mundraby: SFS Summer 1 2016.
Before leaving to go to New Zealand for the first 2 weeks of my program with The School for Field Studies, I was very nervous and unsure. Flying internationally for the first time and by myself made me feel anxious, but although I did not know my way around the airports I still managed to do so. As I landed at Auckland’s international airport I felt more relieved than ever.
I wasn’t quite sure about whether or not I would fit it. A few days went by and I began to memorize everyone’s names, we all began to talk to one another more and more. It felt like within a blink of an eye we knew one another for such a long amount of time. My friendships with 3 students by the names of Julianne, Nick and Caitlyn became strong because we got along so easily, I felt like I was at home again.
One of my favorite parts of the whole trip around New Zealand was at CUE Haven (a reforestation project) - the married couple was such an inspiration, so big hearted and very welcoming. Planting trees on their land was amazing. Doing something so easy but yet so great and appreciated was one of the highlights of my time at CUE Haven.
My other favorite part in New Zealand was staying at the Marae. The family around me felt like a blessing because while I was missing home so much, I felt like I was at home there. Their positive attitude, their family, culture and beliefs reminded me of mine as the indigenous cultures of Australia and New Zealand have so many similarities. The food was awesome at the Marae as well, I liked the hike we did with the Marae family, especially when we got to go through the fences to feel the spiritual connection, was something different but so interesting.
Coming back home to Australia, Cairns made me feel happy but also sad to leave the Maori country, but it won’t be the last visit. Being around Cairns, Atherton and the Daintree was a lot of fun, as I am a Cairns local and some of the places we visited happened to be my first time so it was something new. Being back in Australia also made me become closer with more of the students as they kept asking me about my culture, land and people and as an indigenous person I could answer them with what knowledge I had.
My favorite part of the Australia trip was coming to my work and country. I got to show everyone what I do as my career and what my people do to keep our culture strong. Camping at the ETR Campsite with the Djunbunji Rangers including my father was very fun indeed and it was great to also share my experiences with the rest of the students as it was my first time doing the MY Tours. I felt very happy when we visited Djunbunji, it was a great feeling to be home on my land after nearly 1 month of being away.
Overall I have made many lifetime friends and also experienced travelling internationally for the first time in which is a big step for me. I gained more knowledge and skills more than ever, and planting trees for a better lifestyle for our wildlife was amazing. We need to look after the beautiful environment around us for not only us but once again for our fauna and flora. I have learnt that you can make friends anywhere, have a lot of fun and laughter and also create new memories that will stay with you forever. If anyone asks me about my trip with SFS, I strongly recommend that they be a part of it. This trip has made me want to experience travelling and the environment in many areas even more. So thank you to the staff and students for making my trip the highlight of my 2016, it was an honor to have stayed with a bunch of amazing, outgoing and wonderful people who became lifetime friends.
→ Tropical Rainforest Studies in Australia
[post_title] => A Rewarding Collaboration with the Mandingalbay Yidinji Aboriginal Community
[post_excerpt] => This past summer, Brenda Mundraby, an administrative assistant with the MY’s ranger program and a traditional owner, was the third Indigenous student to benefit from the SFS-CRS host country sponsorship program in the last 3 years.
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The "Communities and Climate Change" research group returning to the Centre after 2 days of conducting surveys. All photos courtesy of Alitza Shutt
The data collection phase of the directed research is over for this semester. It had been a busy two weeks of data collection, which I reckon is the fun part of the directed research process. Now, the challenging part of data analysis and reporting has begun. Students have the next two weeks to work on their final report. When you think about it, this deadline is quite close, as they are also expected to give oral presentations and design posters within the same period. I do not know how they do it, but they never disappoint. In 100% of the cases, they cruise through the process quite successfully, delivering praiseworthy reports.
I am looking forward to reading the reports from my DR groups of students, who are working on the communities and climate change project. The main objective of this project is to determine the local residents’ risk perceptions related to climate change. It is now clear that there is a growing skepticism between climate change science and public opinion. It beggars belief that this skepticism is mostly propagated by people who know little, if anything, about climate science; their only claim to fame being their voice and agency, which they use to leverage public opinion. At the same time, we know that climate science information tends to be limited by the scarcity of comprehensive and relevant data, pertinent to extreme events. For this reason, the issue of climate change remains both contested and polarizing.
Why, then, is risk perception important, one might ask. The thing is, that while the perception of risk is not the same as actual risk (e.g. which could be determined through modelling), it does provide some insight into how people may behave in the event of a climate change induced extreme event, and in the absence of the availability of actual data-sets. Therefore, an understanding of the perception of risk can provide a view into what people value, and what importance they place on certain factors, amidst climate change impacts. Such information is useful in determining how people will recover if these factors are affected during hazard events such as those associated with climate change. The current project is premised on the aforementioned observations.
In order to gather data for this study, students conducted surveys in Mission Beach, Innisfail, Herberton, Kuranda and Atherton towns within the Wet Tropics region where we are located. For these students, this was not only a time to gather data for their research project, but was also an opportunity to further interact with the local community members. Students have described to me how the interview experiences enriched their learning, as discussions tended to go beyond the scope of the information they were soliciting from the interviewees.
Student Chase Goldston interviewing a resident of Mission Beach
Although the findings of the study will be discussed in the final projects, which are due in two weeks’ time, I could not help noticing how surprised students were by some of the responses to the survey questions. In some cases, they received the most unexpected responses. For example, to the question of whether or not interviewees thought climate change was a threat to the Wet Tropics, a significant number of interviewees said that climate change is not real, that it is conspiracy theory hatched by some countries in order to limit the growth and influence of others (Sounds familiar?). This would hardly be a surprising response if it weren’t given by residents of the Wet Tropics, of Australia, a developed country, for reasons which I won't discuss here in great detail due to the limited space of this post.
In fact, I have run out of space, but before I go, I would like to announce the winner of Justus award for the most zealous student interviewer……...And the award goes to…………SAM PEIKES (SMITH COLLEGE)
Student Sam Peikes preparing to approach a potential interviewee
→ Tropical Rainforest Studies in Australia
[post_title] => Researching Community Perceptions of Climate Change in the Wet Tropics
[post_excerpt] => It had been a busy two weeks of data collection, which I reckon is the fun part of the directed research process.
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[post_content] => The new ultra-modern Cairns Institute at James Cook University (JCU) recently played host to our students. Through our collaboration with JCU, the students spent an afternoon with Professor Abert Schram, a former SFS faculty member, now the Vice Chancellor of Papua New Guinea University Technology, who introduced them to Problem-Based Learning (PBL). The exercise involved addressing a real life issue, namely, the proposed development of a multi-billion dollar, Macau–style mega resort and casino in Yorkeys Knobs in Cairns' northern beaches. The project must pass environmental, social, and economic approval, and the developers are in the process of undertaking public consultation.
