Search

This paper reviews existing approaches to inclusive, co-produced and agentic research in disability, and shares related reflections from a co-produced digital storytelling project. The project, which included self-advocates with intellectual disabilities, academics, and support staff was undertaken in Queensland, Australia, in 2018. This paper reflects on the potential and limitations of inclusive research methods by, and with, people with intellectual disabilities. We reflect on and analyse our experiences using a co-production framework and consider how this project increased participation and agency by, with, and for people with intellectual disabilities. The paper concludes with a summary of learnings and recommendations for future co-produced research activities including the importance of taking time to build capacity and establish the required foundations for more inclusive research. Historically, researchers tended to conduct research on people with intellectual disabilities instead of researching with people as co-researchers. Time and deliberate efforts are needed for all people involved in co-produced research, be they people with disabilities, family and carers, advocates, disability workers or academic researchers, to work together in ways which share power and decision-making. This project reflects on the processes used to co-produce individual digital stories and a group digital story about the activities of a long-established group of self-advocates. This includes reflecting on how the digital stories were shared and received; and how the research findings have been communicated, to date, including at a national conference about intellectual disability. The project demonstrates the value of co-production methods and the extended benefits that can arise from this way of working collaboratively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Path dependence has become a multi-disciplinary concept, employed across various literatures to explain why the past matters for decision-making. Debate within 'new institutionalist' scholarship has provided a detailed critique of the term over several decades. Some scholars argue that it is hampered by poor conceptual clarity and highlight its limitations in explaining institutional reform. Yet, this paper demonstrates how neglecting antecedent conditions and associated decision pathways is particularly inappropriate for politico-spatial issues like disaster risk and natural resource governance. Doing so risks omitting key material and perceptual contingencies influencing contemporary institutions. Examining southeast Queensland's flooding disaster of 2011, the paper proposes that path contingency provides a useful theoretical bridge between institutionalist theories of stability and reform, and the geographic contexts within which disaster risk governance proceeds. The analysis then addresses the potential generalisability of path contingency beyond its application to disaster management, for consideration across a broader range of institutionalist research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental impact assessments are a key component of the approval process for many onshore seismic surveys. Quantifying the environmental disturbance caused by such surveys is, however, problematic, as although they cover large areas only a small fraction will be impacted. In this paper, I describe how disturbance can be quantified using the tree fractional cover statistic calculated using LiDAR data. I demonstrate its application using both a synthetic dataset and a real dataset from the Bowen Basin, Queensland, Australia. For the latter, the application of a disturbance minimisation survey design technique resulted in environmental disturbance being reduced from 13% to just 3.5%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For First Peoples across Australia, birds have important connections to kin and Country. We draw on a recent analysis of all Australia's threatened bird taxa to identify on whose traditional Country they occur. Of the 201 imperilled (threatened or Near Threatened) bird taxa facing threats within Australian territory (including Commonwealth waters and offshore islands), 64% occur on lands and waters to which at least 463 First Peoples' groups have a connection. Fourteen bird taxa occur only on Country of a single First Peoples' group while 15 taxa occur on Country of over 50 First Peoples' groups. Four First Peoples' groups, in north Queensland and south-eastern Australia, have over 20 imperilled bird taxa on their Country. Taxa on First Peoples' Country face 78% of the total national threat load on imperilled birds and have 75% of both the research and management needs for relieving threats. All the threats are a consequence of colonisation, suggesting that supporting First Peoples to manage the threats to birds is a moral, and potentially legal, responsibility. Many First Peoples have chosen to engage actively in the conservation of imperilled species but there are numerous additional opportunities for monitoring and active management of Country that will yield benefits. Our analysis can help First Peoples identify which birds on their Country are listed as threatened under western conventions and that they may wish to help conserve; and assist conservation managers to identify First Peoples who might wish to lead or become more involved in imperilled bird management. The Global Biodiversity Framework strongly supports maximising the involvement of First Peoples in environmental management. There are at least 460 First Peoples' groups on which imperilled birds occur, which provides a wide range of opportunities for management if people so choose. The Countries of many First Peoples' groups supports 10 or more imperilled bird taxa, suggesting that support for Country management will often benefit many taxa. The depth and longevity of First Peoples' connection to Country provides them with a perspective lacking in much management. Because all threats to imperilled birds on First Peoples' Country are derived from settlers, there is a moral, and possible legal, case for supporting First Peoples to manage them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]