Emma Woodward

Ms Emma Woodward: revealing social and cultural values of water

Ms Emma Woodward is a geographer researching the social and economic connections between indigenous and non-indigenous communities, and northern river and wetland systems.

• 18 September 2008 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Current activities
• Background
• Qualifications

Current activities

Ms Emma Woodward is working on the Howard River environmental flows and social values project. The project aims to identify the social and cultural values (beneficial uses) of surface and groundwater to key user groups in the Howard River catchment, an area in rural Darwin, Northern Territory (NT), Australia. This area is soon to be the subject of a water planning process by the NT Government.

The project, led by Dr Sue Jackson and funded by the National Heritage Trust, also aims to inform and support the planning process.

Ms Woodward will soon be involved  full-time in a project under the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) research hub. The project, Indigenous socio-economic values and river flows, will attempt to document and map the range of river and wetland resources used by several Indigenous communities along the Daly River, NT and the Fitzroy River, Western Australia.

As well as playing a key role in intensive household surveys – which aim to identify the extent and economic value of resource use – Ms Woodward will be directly involved in the development and running of a community monitoring program. She will also be delivering an intensive communication component of the project.

In addition, Ms Woodward is currently completing doctoral studies that address brokering and networking issues related to Indigenous natural resource management in Northern Australia.

Background

Before joining CSIRO, Ms Woodward worked with the Supervising Scientist Division of the Department of Environment and Heritage in Darwin and Jabiru, including an Aboriginal Liaison Officer role.

Qualifications

In 2000 Ms Woodward completed a Bachelor of Environmental Science with First Class Honours at the University of Western Australia (UWA).

She is currently completing her doctoral studies through the School of Earth and Geographical Sciences at UWA.

Find out more about our research in Rivers.