All Stories

  1. The Health of the Governance System for Australia’s Great Barrier Reef 2050 Plan: A First Benchmark

    Article • Sustainability, September 2025, MDPI AG

    Dr Karen J Vella

  2. Power to the People, Power to the Reef: Harnessing Community Capital to Scale Adaption Delivery in the Great Barrier Reef

    Article • Sustainability, September 2025, MDPI AG

    Dr Karen J Vella

  3. Deep Deliberation to Enhance Analysis of Complex Governance Systems: Reflecting on the Great Barrier Reef Experience

    Article • Sustainability, July 2025, MDPI AG

    Dr Karen J Vella

  4. The Health of the Governance System for Australia’s Great Barrier Reef 2050 Plan: A First Benchmark

    Article • June 2025, MDPI AG

    Dr Karen J Vella

  5. Deep Deliberation and Multiple Lines of Evidence to Monitor the Health of Complex Governance Systems: Reflecting on the Experience from Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

    Article • June 2025, MDPI AG

    Dr Karen J Vella

  6. Community Engagement for Novel Ecosystem Restoration and Assisted Adaptation Interventions: Observations and Lessons from the Australian Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program

    Article • Society & Natural Resources, February 2025, Taylor & Francis

    Dr Karen J Vella

  7. A call for strategic assessments of regional applications of solar radiation management: Exploring the challenges and opportunities from marine cloud brightening and albedo surface modification

    Article • Environmental Impact Assessment Review, January 2025, Elsevier

    Dr Karen J Vella

  8. Food diversity and accessibility enabled urban environments for sustainable food consumption: a case study of Brisbane, Australia

    Article • Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, September 2024, Springer Science + Business Media

    Dr Karen J Vella

  9. Conceptualizing social risk in relation to climate change and assisted ecosystem adaptation

    Article • Risk Analysis, August 2024, Wiley

    Dr Karen J Vella

  10. Climate and disaster-related planned relocation: Wellbeing outcomes and justice implications

    Article • January 2024, Queensland University of Technology

    Dr Karen J Vella

  11. Monitoring the governance system underpinning the implementation and review of the Reef 2050 Plan: A preliminary benchmark

    Article • January 2024, Queensland University of Technology

    Dr Karen J Vella

  12. Scrutinizing the impact of policy instruments on adoption of agricultural conservation practices using Bayesian expert models

    Article • Conservation Letters, November 2023, Wiley

    Dr Karen J Vella

  13. Lessons learned and policy implications from climate-related planned relocation in Fiji and Australia

    Article • Frontiers in Climate, March 2023, Frontiers

    Dr Karen J Vella

  14. Designing an expert-led Bayesian network to understand interactions between policy instruments for adoption of eco-friendly farming practices

    Article • Environmental Science & Policy, March 2023, Elsevier

    Felicity Deane, Dr Karen J Vella

  15. Coral restoration and adaptation in Australia: The first five years

    Article • PLOS One, November 2022, PLOS

    Dr Karen J Vella

  16. Understanding the effectiveness of policy instruments to encourage adoption of farming practices to improve water quality for the Great Barrier Reef

    Article • Marine Pollution Bulletin, November 2021, Elsevier

    Felicity Deane, Dr Karen J Vella

  17. Challenges and opportunities for assisted regional ecosystem adaptation: International experience and implications for adaptation research

    Article • PLOS One, September 2021, PLOS

    Dr Karen J Vella

  18. Cumulative impacts and strategic environmental assessment: policy development for Australias Great Barrier Reef

    Article • January 2021, Edward Elgar Publishing

    Dr Karen J Vella

  19. Typical Social Adaptation Measures in Climate Change Planning: A Tropical Region Case Study

    Article • January 2021, Elsevier

    Dr Karen J Vella

  20. A limits-oriented adaptive approach for strategic environmental assessment

    Article • Environmental Science & Policy, December 2020, Elsevier

    Dr Karen J Vella

  21. Declining trends in plan quality: A longitudinal evaluation of regional environmental plans in Queensland, Australia

    Article • Landscape and Urban Planning, November 2020, Elsevier

    Dr Karen J Vella

  22. Governing Community-Based Natural Resource Management in Australia: International Implications

    Article • Land, July 2020, MDPI AG

    Dr Karen J Vella

  23. How Are Smart City Concepts and Technologies Perceived and Utilized? A Systematic Geo-Twitter Analysis of Smart Cities in Australia

    Article • Journal of Urban Technology, May 2020, Taylor & Francis

    Mrs Nayomi Kankanamge, Dr Karen J Vella

  24. The Value Proposition of Regional Natural Resource Management in Queensland

    Article • December 2017, Queensland University of Technology

    Dr Karen J Vella

  25. Understanding How Policy Actors Improvise and Collaborate in the Great Barrier Reef

    Article • Coastal Management, November 2017, Taylor & Francis

    Dr Karen J Vella

  26. Assessment and Promotion of the Great Barrier Reef's Human Dimensions Through Collaboration

    Article • Coastal Management, November 2017, Taylor & Francis

    Dr Karen J Vella

  27. Avoiding Implementation Failure in Catchment Landscapes: A Case Study in Governance of the Great Barrier Reef

    Article • Environmental Management, October 2017, Springer Science + Business Media

    Dr Karen J Vella

  28. The Practice of Water Policy Governance Networks: An International Comparative Case Study Analysis

    Article • Society & Natural Resources, February 2017, Taylor & Francis

    Dr Karen J Vella

  29. Bridging the divide between theory and guidance in strategic environmental assessment: A path for Italian regions

    Article • Environmental Impact Assessment Review, January 2017, Elsevier

    Dr Karen J Vella

  30. Risk analysis of the governance system affecting outcomes in the Great Barrier Reef

    Article • Journal of Environmental Management, December 2016, Elsevier

    Dr Karen J Vella

  31. Examining the Impact of the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact

    Article • Journal of Planning Education and Research, July 2016, SAGE Publications

    Dr Karen J Vella

  32. Evaluating Governance Arrangements and Decision Making for Natural Resource Management Planning: An Empirical Application of the Governance Systems Analysis Framework

    Article • Society & Natural Resources, June 2016, Taylor & Francis

    Dr Karen J Vella

  33. Applying social resilience concepts and indicators to support climate adaptation in tropical North Queensland, Australia

    Article • May 2016, Wiley

    Dr Karen J Vella

  34. A Study of Governance Arrangementsfor Land Use and Natural Resource Management Planning in Cape York Peninsula

    Article • Australian Geographer, July 2015, Taylor & Francis

    Dr Karen J Vella

  35. Not Learning from the Past: Adaptive Governance Challenges for Australian Natural Resource Management

    Article • Geographical Research, May 2015, Wiley

    Dr Karen J Vella

  36. Exploring the usefulness of structural–functional approaches to analyse governance of planning systems

    Article • Planning Theory, October 2014, SAGE Publications

    Dr Karen J Vella

  37. Analysing governance of Australia's system of landscape-based greenhouse gas abatement

    Article • Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, October 2014, Taylor & Francis

    Dr Karen J Vella

  38. Relocating a Flood-Affected Community: Good Planning or Good Politics?

    Article • Journal of the American Planning Association, October 2014, Taylor & Francis

    Dr Karen J Vella

  39. Can social resilience inform SA/SIA for adaptive planning for climate change in vulnerable regions?

    Article • Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research, September 2014, Taylor & Francis

    Dr Karen J Vella

  40. Article • International Journal of Water Governance, April 2014, Delft University of Technology

    Dr Karen J Vella

  41. Twenty years of pacifying responses to environmental management

    Article • Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, April 2014, Taylor & Francis

    Dr Melissa Jane Nursey-Bray, Dr Karen J Vella

  42. Carbon, biodiversity and regional natural resource planning: towards high impact next generation plans

    Article • Australian Planner, December 2013, Taylor & Francis

    Dr Karen J Vella

  43. An approach for adaptive and integrated environmental planning to deal with uncertainty in a Great Barrier Reef Catchment

    Article • Australian Planner, October 2013, Taylor & Francis

    Dr Karen J Vella

  44. A rapid assessment of the effects of extreme weather on two Great Barrier Reef industries

    Article • Australian Planner, September 2013, Taylor & Francis

    Dr Karen J Vella

  45. Governance Systems Analysis (GSA): A Framework for Reforming Governance Systems

    Article • Journal of Public Administration and Governance, September 2013, Macrothink Institute, Inc.

    Dr Karen J Vella

  46. Corrigendum to “The ten Australian ecosystems most vulnerable to tipping points” [Biol. Conserv. 144 (2011) 1472–1480]

    Article • Biological Conservation, March 2013, Elsevier

    Dr Karen J Vella, Professor Michael I Bird, Professor Michael John Lawes

  47. A method for risk analysis across governance systems: a Great Barrier Reef case study

    Article • Environmental Research Letters, March 2013, Institute of Physics Publishing

    Dr Karen J Vella

  48. Sustainable Resource Use

    Article • June 2012, Taylor & Francis

    Dr Karen J Vella

  49. The 10 Australian ecosystems most vulnerable to tipping points

    Article • Biological Conservation, May 2011, Elsevier

    Dr Karen J Vella, Professor Michael I Bird, Professor Michael John Lawes

  50. Viewpoint : social and economic dimensions of involving savanna communities in carbon management systems

    Article • Australian Journal of Botany, January 2005, CSIRO Publishing

    Dr Karen J Vella