Nature and Wellbeing

Transdisciplinary research (TDR) can help generate solutions to environmental challenges and enhance the uptake of research outputs, thus contributing to advance sustainability in social-ecological systems. Our aim is to support investment decisions in TDR; more specifically, to help funders, researchers, and research users to decide when and why it is most likely to be worth investing in TDR approaches. To achieve our aim, we: 1) define TDR and use a decision tree comparing it with alternative modes of research (i.e., basic, applied, disciplinary, multidisciplinary , and interdisciplinary research) to help researchers and funders distinguish TDR from other research modes; 2) identify features of the research problem and context (complexity, diverse knowledge systems, contestation, power imbalance, and disagreement on the need for transformative change) where a TDR approach could be more appropriate than the alternative research modes; and 3) explore the idea that the intensity of the contextual features in (2), together with the problem at hand, will help determine where a research project stands in a continuum from low-to high-TDR. We present five studies exemplifying lower-to higher-TDR approaches that are distinguished by: 1) the number and variety of research participants engaged; 2) the strength of involvement of non-academic actors; and 3) the number and variety of disciplines and knowledge systems involved in the research.

The critical role that Indigenous people play in natural resource management is globally recognized, with such endeavors frequently supported by Government and non-government funded programs. We explore the perceived impact of the knowledge-exchange opportunities arising from these programs, using data from a survey of Indigenous people from northern Australian communities involved in Indigenous land and sea management programs (ILSMPs). We find that ILSMPs are perceived as opportunities for exchange of both western and Indigenous-generated knowledge, with more people reporting opportunities to learn and share traditional rather than western generated knowledge. Aspects of life perceived as improved by learning and sharing were in relation to self, to others (community and family) and the Indigenous culture overall. Learning is having a positive impact on wellbeing; sharing is predominantly positive, but survey responses also reveal some negatives: mostly related to examples of sharing undertaken in culturally inappropriate exchanges, which not only impacts wellbeing, but also erodes the quality of the information exchanged. Reducing the negative sentiments related to sharing will not only improve the wellbeing of Indigenous people, but will also improve the quality of knowledge exchanged with consequent positive outcomes for the environment and society as a whole.

The Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council (Martuwarra Council) has prepared this document to engage widely and to articulate its ambitions and obligations to First Law, customary law and their guardianship authority and fiduciary duty to protect the Martuwarra’s natural and cultural heritage. This document outlines a strategic approach to Heritage Conservation and Management Planning, communicating to a wide audience, the planning principles, key initiatives, and aspirations of the Martuwarra Traditional Owners to protect their culture, identity and deep connection to living waters and land. Finer granularity of action items required to give effect to this Conservation and Management Plan for the National Heritage Listed Fitzroy River Catchment Estate are outlined in section 7 and which will be more fully explored by the Martuwarra Council in the coming months and years.

There are various development plans for the Fitzroy River catchment. Proposals for new developments include irrigated agriculture, increasing livestock production, payment for ecosystem services (e.g. carbon farming), extraction of mineral resources, tourism and many others. But how do we balance increased productivity, traditional uses and nature conservation? We are in an intersection where major decisions (from local to national levels) will be made regarding the future use of land and water resources. A conversation is thus needed to ensure the sustainable development of the region.

Conservation and environmental management have been reported as offering opportunities to substantially improve the wellbeing of Indigenous people. Using the holistic wellbeing impact evaluation (W-IE) approach—well suited for use in Indigenous communities—we interviewed 190 Indigenous Australians across four communities. All communities were involved in the Indigenous land and sea management programs (ILSMPs). Our study explored the conceptualisation of ‘wellbeing’ by participants. In particular, we were interested in the aspects of wellbeing perceived to be affected by ILSMPs. Out of the 26 wellbeing factors explored, ‘Health centres’; ‘Language’; ‘Schools’; and ‘Safe community’ emerged as being of highest importance to the largest percentage of the respondents. When grouped using principle components analysis (PCA), the ‘Community and society’ domain emerged as the most important; accounting for 52% of the overall importance of all wellbeing factors. The second most important dom...

Using a range of qualitative methods in refugee camps in the region of Epirus Greece, this paper investigates how access to nature impacts refugee wellbeing. A number of studies show an array of benefits generally arising from ‘contact with nature’, yet little work considers the impacts for refugees specifically, especially those living in camps. The results of this study indicate that the impacts of access to nature in this setting range from opening up a space for healing, stress relief, and freedom, to countering the loss of identity and agency that is commonly associated with forced displacement and encampment. Implications include both the practice-oriented proposal that authorities governing refugee management incorporate and apply these findings, and the more theoretical call for a reconceptualization of the concept of ‘rootedness’ in relation to space and territory.

The authors invite participants to a discussion on innovative practices in landscape research that contribute to developing an understanding of landscape perception in transition, from the users’ perspective, and how such moments are revisited and magnified. Research findings in recent years have identified a lack of understanding of landscape perception in transition, appealing for further investigation using research methods, which move away from a reliance on static representations.

This paper presents findings examining the particular changes in rhythm arising from in-the-moment experience and the immediacy of the moment, focusing on the value and meaning of pauses, movements, verbal and non-verbal expression. Whereas other research has tended to undervalue or ignore these moments, the authors suggest focussing on such embodied attentions furthers our understanding of landscape perception. This was achieved using innovative research methods, which elucidated the interpretive construction of landscape experience as lived by the participant.

The findings are drawn from studies, carried out with adults and children, which enabled participants to capture and reflect on in-the-moment experience, involving a variety of creative methods, such as film-making, photography, drawing, dairies and writing - generating outputs for further investigation, allowing participants to experiment with voice and creative interpretations.


Keywords
creative methods, in-the-moment experience, geographical imagination, immaterial realities, nature, movement, rhythms

This paper presents initial findings from pilot studies testing the use of practice-based research methods to capture children’s ways of imagining and being in different landscape settings. Research aims to negotiate the disclosure of ‘in-the-moment’ revelations which participants are comfortable to share, and to develop research methods that give voice to the transitory, intangible, imaginative thoughts and acts, generated by landscape experiences.

Qualitative data concerning children’s environmental perceptions and experiences have been collected through the use of creative, experiential methods - including shared walking, exploring and outdoor play, captured through collaborative film making activities, drawing and writing. These initiate a process of reflective engagement with and between the children to uncover their intentions, as well as the personal significance these kind of experiences held. Three groups of children (aged between 4 and 12 years old) were invited to participate as part of their playscheme, youth club or after school activities.

Initial findings indicate that creative and experiential tools facilitate the capture of ‘in-the-moment’ experience, and can be interpreted through the analysis of non-verbal and verbal communication.  The use of non-verbal communication is an important, but not singular, alternative narrative stream generated through this process. Of particular importance, is the child’s control of when and how such information is collected. Often revelations appear gradually, thus suggesting the deep significance attached to these experiences, and the difficulty in articulating what may be very personal and individual speculations, daydreams, fascinations, fantasies and magical modes of thinking.

These findings contribute to theories and empirical research, which supports investigation into the intangible aspects of landscape experience – by investigating landscape experience in transition, in outside places and in shifting natural processes. Conclusions can/may be drawn to advocate the value imaginative engagement entails in the creation of personal attachments to outdoor places and natural processes.

"This paper presents findings from research testing the use of creative research methods to capture children’s ways of being and imagining in urban ‘wildspace’ settings, discussing how in-the-moment revelations were negotiated and re-told through experiential, collaborative film-making activities, undertaken and controlled by the children who took part in the project.

Far from giving voice to the children’s experience and interpretation, experiential film methods raised questions and silences. These concerned recognising the limits of different forms of representation and listening, and in particular what it means to apply voice to nonverbal experiences. The reluctance children portrayed towards re-visiting and interpreting material collected in-situ encouraged alternative narrative streams to develop that allowed different ways of talking and telling to occur between outside, immersive engagement and inside creative doing and reflection

The findings contribute to theories and empirical research investigating imaginative aspects of landscape experience through the body, in transition, in outside places and in shifting natural processes.

Possible questions for discussion:

• what understandings of landscape interaction are drawn from different representations or ways of ‘re-telling’, arising from thinking and making, talking and telling stories, and movement

• what value this imaginative engagement entails in the creation of personal dialogues and personal attachments to place

• how shifting between speculations, daydreams, fascinations and magical modes of thinking can produce creative cosmologies derived from direct landscape experience


Theme: Creative Research Practices
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