Current Position
PhD Researcher

Role at Tyndall
PhD Researcher

Duration of your PhD
1.10.11-30.9.13

Thesis's Supervisor
Declan Conway

Funder
UEA Studentship

My Thesis' Abstract
An analysis of organisational adaptation to climate change.
Recent years have seen a proliferation of literature concerned with the impacts of increasing climate variability and change however research on adaptation lags significantly behind. It is important to redress this balance in order to ensure that societies become more resilient and are better able to adapt to current and future uncertainties. This is particularly true in developing countries where the impacts of climate change are already being felt, and where many of the world’s most vulnerable populations live.
 
My research is primarily concerned with understanding how organisations are able to adapt to the pressures of increasing climate variability and change. Organisations are on the front line of adaptation and are the primary actors involved in selecting and implementing adaptation responses. An improved understanding of the drivers of adaptation, how organisations adapt, and the factors that enable and constrain action, will result in a more comprehensive understanding of the potential future effectiveness of adaptation interventions.
 
My PhD research will employ a case study approach to examine organisational adaptation to climate change in conservation organisations in and around Nepal’s Bardia National Park. It will examine the key drivers of change in the park management authority, focusing in particular on the role of perceptions of environmental change in influencing the operations of the organisation. I will examine the process of learning within the organisation and consider how interactions with the wider organisational environment impact upon this. My study will also consider the role of both internal and external factors in facilitating and constraining organisational adaptive capacity.