Staff Members | Kaimahi

Janet Stephenson joined CSAFE in mid-2008 as a Senior Research Fellow. She is a social scientist who is particularly interested in how people and communities interact with their environments, and the dynamics of societal and environmental change. Janet has a particular passion for working with people from other disciplines to develop new perspectives on thorny issues.
Her research interests are in three overlapping areas:
• how and why landscapes are important to people and communities
• the management of resources in which Maori have a particular interest
• the societal implications of climate change and energy transition

Janet is currently involved in the following research:

Matauranga and the RMA (funded by FRST). This project is led by the Cawthron Institute and aims to tackle some of the frustrations Mäori have experienced with the Resource Management Act process. In resource consent situations, traditional knowledge (matauranga) is often not recognised as being as ‘real‘ or as legitimate as scientific knowledge, and hearings can be uncomfortable and frustrating for tangata whenua. The research aim is to develop practical ‘tools’ for both tangata whenua and council staff, so that a safe and respectful situation is created for sharing and hearing matauranga, and so that councils are better prepared to respond appropriately to this knowledge.

Enhancing Innovation (funded by FRST). Led by Lincoln University, this project examines why some innovations are successful and some are not. Our part of the project at Otago is to look at innovations in the energy sector, and we will be interviewing inventors and the networks of people and organisations around them to try and identify the conditions that lead to successful uptake.

Windfarms and Landscapes (University of Otago Research Grant). Together with Mick Abbott (design) Janet is examining the differing perspectives of submitters and expert witnesses on the significance of landscapes for which windfarms are proposed.

Visualising Landscapes (University of Otago Research Grant) is led by Mick Abbott and also involves Holger Regenbrecht (Information Science). They are working on ways of expressing non-tangible qualities of landscapes in a digital environment.

Plans, Power and Partnerships (Marsden Grant). This is a 3-year project led by Henrik Moller and Janet that will be starting in early 2009. They will look at the barriers to tangata whenua being able to participate directly in the management of resources that are important to them, and will identify the benefits that flow when tangata whenua are able to be actively involved in being hands-on kaitiaki for their mahinga kai. These benefits may include passing on of knowledge to new generations, stronger social and cultural relationships within the hapu, and responsiveness to local environmental conditions.

Download CV (PDF, 116 KB)