Dr Jasper Montana
Headshot of a man with larger ferns and a building behind him.
Studies interfaces between science, technology, policy and society for environmental governance. Special interest in biodiversity and nature conservation.
email jasper.montana@anu.edu.au
link ANU Researcher Portal profile

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About

I have a disciplinary background in human geography (PhD), science and technology studies (MSc), zoology (BSc Hons) and creative arts (Dip), and practitioner experience in documentary filmmaking (BBC). I bring this into my work on environmental expertise, including science-policy-society interfaces (how we collectively come to know and act with respect to sustainability challenges) and the practices of transdisciplinarity (how different knowledge systems are able to work together). I have a particular specialism in issues surrounding biodiversity, nature conservation, ecological restoration and urban greenspace.

Career

  • 2024-present: Senior Lecturer, Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at ANU
  • 2022-2024: Departmental Lecturer, School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford
  • 2019-2022: Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship, School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford
  • 2017-2019: Research Associate, Department of Politics, University of Sheffield
  • 2017-2020: Independent Consultant, Luc Hoffmann Institute
  • 2015: Visiting Research Fellow, Program on Science, Technology and Society, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
  • 2008-2012: Researcher and Technical Coordinator, BBC Natural History Unit

Affiliations

  Groups
  • , Member

Research interests

My research examines and experiments with the workings of environmental expertise, including relationships between science and policy, theories and practices of inter- and transdisciplinary research, and the role of knowledge, norms, numbers and technologies in environmental governance.

I have a particular interest in biodiversity loss, nature conservation and nature restoration as complex societal challenges requiring innovative actions and I am inspired by efforts to reconnect people with nature in everyday life.

Jasper Montana leads the People-Nature Relations Initiative funded by the ANU Futures Scheme. www.people-nature.com

Teaching information

Jasper convenes two undergraduate and postgraduate courses: the Winter intensive course SCOM3088/6088: Science in Government and the Second Semester course SCOM3029/6029: Science Communication and Planetary Crises.

Jasper supervises numerous PhD students, including:

  • Sarah Keenihan (Primary)
  • Geraint Stirling (Primary)
  • Lea Anderson (Secondary, University of Oxford)
  • Vanessa Barratt (Secondary)
  • Md Omar Faruk (Secondary)
  • Lynne El Hassan (Secondary)
  • Bill McAlister (Secondary, ANU Cybernetics)
  • Indigo Strudwicke (Secondary)

Publications