Explore CSIRO

About CSIRO

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is Australia's national science agency and one of the largest and most diverse research agencies in the world.

CSIRO's core areas of impact

Contact Enquiries: Phone - 1300 363 400 | Email - Enquiries@csiro.au | Contact Us

Resume

 
 printer friendly view
 
Dr Tom Measham, Research Scientist, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
Dr Tom Measham is a human geographer working on the social dimensions of environmental challenges.

Dr Tom Measham: understanding social dimensions of environmental management

Dr Tom Measham’s research aims to understand the social dimensions of complex environmental challenges and building adaptive capacity through participatory and learning processes.

Current activities

As a human geographer working in natural resource management, Dr Tom Measham focuses his research on identifying and addressing social dimensions of environmental challenges. His areas of research interest include:

  • understanding and overcoming constraints for climate adaptation
  • developing capacity to manage complex problems
  • understanding how people learn about environments
  • social learning through evaluation.

Dr Measham's current research includes:

  • systems approach to climate adaptation in Sydney working with local councils and the Sydney Coastal Council Group. Project website [external link]
  • facilitating social learning through an evaluation of participatory trials to improve dryland salinity management in Western Australia
  • determining success factors for community engagement in regional natural resource management  through a case study of the Lake Eyre Basin
  • Analysing Rural Transition (ART) – social science to support community development in regional Victoria.

Background

Dr Measham's work involves understanding and addressing the social dimensions of environmental challenges and increasing adaptive capacity to manage change.

Dr Measham joined CSIRO in Townsville, North Queensland, in 1998. 

In 2004 he moved to Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), to join the Resource Futures program at CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems Division. 

Before joining CSIRO, Dr Measham was a research officer and tutor at the School of Tropical Environmental Studies and Geography at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland, Australia.

Academic qualifications

Dr Measham holds the following qualifications:

  • Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1994
  • Master of Science from James Cook University, Queensland, 1998
  • Doctor of Philosophy from the Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2004.

Achievements

Dr Measham has the following awards and association memberships:

  • Eureka 'Innovative Solutions To Climate Change' Award for Sydney Climate Change Adaptation Initiative, 2009
  • CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems Divisional partnerships Award, 2008.

He has also a member of:

  • Geography National Curriculum Reference Panel (Professional Advisor), Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)
  • Institute of Australian Geographers, 2003–present.

Read about working with rural communities in Farm water futures.

 
 

Scientist Profile

Name: Dr Tom Measham

Title: Research Scientist

Qualifications:

  • BA
  • MSc
  • PhD

Expertise:

  • human geography
  • social learning
  • place attachment
  • participatory research
  • human decision making
  • policy and research evaluation

Current projects:

  • identifying social constraints to best practice for dryland salinity
  • success factors in regional natural resource management interface organisations

Contact Information

Primary Contact

Dr Tom Measham
Research Scientist
Sustainable Ecosystems
Phone: 61 2 6242 1789 
Fax: 61 2 6242 1782 

Contact

Ms Larelle McMillan
Communication Officer
Sustainable Ecosystems
Phone: 61 7 3214 2417 
Alt Phone: 61 0 413 807 786 

Location

CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems - Gungahlin Homestead
Bellenden Street
Crace ACT 2911
Australia

GPO Box 284
Canberra ACT 2601
Australia