Anna Evely

I am currently a research fellow in Knowledge Exchange based at the University of St. Andrews. I am interested in the integration of knowledge for sustainability and to mitgate conservation conflict. I also work at Aberdeen Centre for Environmental Sustainability and helped orgabnise the successful ACES 2011 international conference, I am director of Project Maya which works in partnership with communities to build capacity and get sustainability research into practice.

I have an interdisciplinary background and focus on issues of Environmental Sustainability. My Phd analysed the integration of knowledge (disciplinary, expert and lay) for conservation. Specifically, looking at: a) how the knowledge of social and natural sciences can be integrated to better manage social–ecological systems; b) what the barriers are to integrating different types of knowledge; c) what the outcomes are of integrating different forms of knowledge; d) what type of participation can best sustain action; and e) how participation can improve adaptive capacity. My current post as research Fellow aims to develop best practice guidelines for Knowledge Exchange.

Research Interests

Human social and economic systems are interlinked, interconnected, and co-evolving alongside the ecological on every scale from local to global (Kinzig, 2001). For this reason the concept of sustainability science has shifted from one that focussed predominantly on the ecological to that which encompasses social-ecological systems (Adger, 2000; Holling, 2000; Folke 2006), in which humans are viewed as integral and the focus is on sustainable ecological systems that can maintain both social and economic systems. I am interested in how ecological, economic and social systems can be managed sustainably and in harmony with one another. This includes:
 Knowledge ExchangeSocial LearningAdaptation/behaviour changeParticipationWell-beingCross-disciplinarityConflict ManagementResilienceTeaching for SustainabilityPermacultureUse of web 2.0. technology