Michele is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the College of Arts, Society, and Education, an Associate Professor in the School of Project Management at the University of Sydney, and is the head of the Social Dynamics & the Environment Lab. In 2023 she served as the President of the Australian Network for Social Network Analysis and she currently serves on the board of the International Network for Social Network Analysis. Her work draws on theories and methods from sociology and complex systems science to contribute a better understanding of the linkages between people and nature that underpin complex environmental problems. She has specialized expertise in social network science, which she applies to explore key issues such as: how human-nature interactions drive environmental outcomes, how environmental knowledge spreads through society, and how social networks influence environmental behaviour.

Michele's research is increasingly focused on adaptation and resilience, asking critical questions such as: What factors drive or underpin human responses to environmental change (and in what context)? When can a response or action be considered transformative vs. adaptive? How are human responses to change underpinned by social-ecological feedbacks, and how can they potentially alter these feedbacks? What role does power play in shaping responses to change, and what does this mean for resilience (and for whom)? To investigate these questions, she works closely with interdisciplinary teams of scholars, policy-makers, managers, and practitioners and has active research sites in Australia, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, and Hawai‘i.

Michele obtained her PhD in Natural Resources and Environmental Management from the University of Hawaii in 2015. Throughout her tenure in Hawaii, she held adjunct faculty appointments at the University of Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific University, where she developed and taught courses on the human dimensions of marine systems and quantitative social science methods. Michele is committed to research impact and has worked with communities, practitioners, and policy makers to apply research insights in Hawaii, the United States, Australia, and in the Western Indian Ocean. For example, from 2021-2022, Michele served as a member of the Expert Working Group that developed a National Strategy for Just Adaptation in Australia.

Interests

Professional

• climate change adaptation policy and planning
• marine and coastal policy
• justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion

Research

• social networks, social-ecological networks
• social-ecological systems
• climate change adaptation
• adaptation, transformation, and resilience
• adaptive capacity
• coastal communities
• environmental governance
• power dynamics
• social capital
• justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion

Teaching

• social network analysis
• environmental social science
• human dimensions of environmental systems
• social-ecological interactions

Experience

• 2023 to present - Adjunct Associate Professor, College of Arts, Society, and Education, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
• 2023 to present - Associate Professor, School of Project Management, University of Sydney (Sydney, Australia)
• 2023 - Associate Professor, College of Arts, Society, and Education (Townsville, Australia)
• 2022 - Associate Professor, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
• 2019 to 2022 - Senior Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
• 2017 to 2018 - Social Science Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
• 2015 to 2017 - Visiting Scholar & Adjunct, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
• 2015 to 2017 - Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dept. of Botany, University of Hawaii (Honolulu, HI, USA)
• 2015 - Research Specialist, NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (Honolulu, HI, USA)
• 2012 to 2015 - Research Associate, Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, University of Hawaii (Honolulu, HI, USA)
• 2012 to 2015 - Graduate Researcher, NOAA's Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (Honolulu, HI, USA)
• 2011 to 2012 - Graduate Research Assistant, Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, University of Hawaii (Honolulu, HI, USA)

Research Disciplines

• Climate change impacts and adaptation (4101)
• Environmental management (4104)
• Sociology (4410)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Adaptation to climate change (1901)
• Expanding knowledge (2801)

Awards

• 2023 - International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA) Freeman Award
• 2021 - Academy of Social Sciences in Australia Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research
• 2020 - AIPS Young Tall Poppy Award
• 2020 - Australian Museum Eureka Award for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Science

Fellowships

• 2019 to 2022 - ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award
• 2015 to 2017 - U.S. National Science Foundation Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Bartelet H, Barnes M and Cumming G (2024) Estimating and comparing the direct economic contributions of reef fisheries and tourism in the Asia-Pacific. Marine Policy, 159.
• Bartelet H, Barnes M, Bakti L and Cumming G (2023) Testing the reliability of adaptive capacity as a proxy for adaptive and transformative responses to climate change. Global Environmental Change, 81.
• Bartelet H, Barnes M and Cumming G (2023) Microeconomic adaptation to severe climate disturbances on Australian coral reefs. Ambio, 52. pp. 285-299
• Bergseth B, Arias A, Barnes M, Caldwell I, Datta A, Gelcich S, Ham S, Lau J, Ruano-Chamorro C, Smallhorn-West P, Weekers D, Zamborain-Mason J and Cinner J (2023) Closing the compliance gap in marine protected areas with human behavioural sciences. Fish and Fisheries, 24. pp. 695-704
• Cumming G, Adamska M, Barnes M, Barnett J, Bellwood D, Cinner J, Cohen P, Donelson J, Fabricius K, Grafton R, Grech A, Gurney G, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Hoey A, Hoogenboom M, Lau J, Lovelock C, Lowe R, Miller D, Morrison T, Mumby P, Nakata M, Pandolfi J, Peterson G, Pratchett M, Ravasi T, Riginos C, Rummer J, Schaffelke B, Wernberg T and Wilson S (2023) Research priorities for the sustainability of coral-rich western Pacific seascapes. Regional Environmental Change, 23 (2).
• Ruano-Chamorro C, Gurney G, Barnes M, Gelcich S and Cinner J (2023) Disparities in the impacts of co-management on fishers’ livelihoods. Sustainability Science, 18. pp. 2723-2733
• Sutcliffe S, Lau J, Barnes M, Mbaru E, Wade E, Hungito W, Muly I, Wanyonyi S, Muthiga N, Cohen P and Cinner J (2023) COVID-19 impacts on food systems in fisheries-dependent island communities. Ecology and Society, 28 (1).
• Barnes M, Jasny L, Bauman A, Ben J, Berardo R, Bodin Ö, Cinner J, Feary D, Guerrero A, Januchowski-Hartley F, Kuange J, Lau J, Wang P and Zamborain-Mason J (2022) ‘Bunkering down’: How one community is tightening social-ecological network structures in the face of global change. People and Nature, 4 (4). pp. 1032-1048
• Barnes M, Datta A, Morris S and Zethoven I (2022) Navigating climate crises in the Great Barrier Reef. Environmental Hazards, 74.
• Bartelet H, Barnes M and Cumming G (2022) Determinants, outcomes, and feedbacks associated with microeconomic adaptation to climate change. Regional Environmental Change, 22 (2).
• Bartelet H, Barnes M, Zoeller K and Cumming G (2022) Social adaptation can reduce the strength of social–ecological feedbacks from ecosystem degradation. People and Nature, 4 (4). pp. 856-865
• Datta A, Barnes M, Chaffin B, Floyd T, Morrison T and Sutcliffe S (2022) Big events, little change: Extreme climatic events have no region-wide effect on Great Barrier Reef governance. Journal of Environmental Management, 320.

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 50+ research outputs authored by A/Prof Michele Barnes from 2011 onwards.

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• Strengthening stakeholder engagement and collaborations in marine resource management (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Climate change adaptation in the face of Societal Conflict: Policy and Regulatory Dimensions that promote livelihood enhancement and Peacebuilding in Coastal Communities (Masters , Primary Advisor)
• Rural Cassava Farmers Behaviour and Adaptation to Climate Smart Africulture in Nigeria (PhD , Secondary Advisor)

Completed

• Microeconomic adaptation in social-ecological systems (2023, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• In danger? Climate crisis frames in polycentric World Heritage governance & the critical case of Australia's Great Barrier Reef (2023, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Evaluating shocks: a panel study of impacts of and responses to COVID-19 in coastal small-scale fishing communities (2024, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Diffusion of a gear-based conservation innovation: adoption patterns and social - ecological outcomes (2019, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Navigating extreme climate events: uncovering the challenges of social-ecological system governance in the Anthropocene (2023, PhD , Primary Advisor)

These are the most recent metadata records associated with this researcher. To see a detailed description of all dataset records, visit Research Data Australia.

• Barnes, M. (2020) Trophic interactions among key target reef fish in Papua New Guinea. James Cook University
• Barnes, M. (2019) Trophic interactions among key target reef fish in Kenya. James Cook University
• Sutcliffe, S. (2018) Surveys of knowledge of shark ecology, attitude towards sharks and intentions to engage in conservation of the general public and participants in a shark ecotourism program. James Cook University

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.