Carla Meurk

Project: Social aspects of feral pig management in the wet tropics of north Queensland

The management of feral pigs (Sus scrofa) in the wet tropics of north Queensland has been a matter of ongoing debate.

Approaches that focus upon the improved understanding and adoption, ie. uptake, of management strategies continues to be a goal for social research driven by conservation managers and ecologists. This is in spite of the continued failure of uptake based approaches to achieve successful long-term management outcomes.

Focusing on the conflicts over feral pig management in the wet tropics and resistance to current management by feral pig hunters, I propose to undertake a critical analysis of uptake in conservation management discourse. Based on this analysis I seek to understand the spatial dimensions of social values so that they may be incorporated into management and zoning planning of the wet tropics alongside ecological considerations.

Background:

MSC in Mathematics and Statistics, University of Canterbury, NZ

While looking for potential PhD programmes I came across the IA-CRC website and found an interesting looking project on the social aspects of feral pig management. This topic immediately grabbed my interest as a controversial yet highly important aspect of improving long term environmental management.  So, I packed up, crossed the Tasman and started work in a whole new field at the School of Social Sciences at UQ, St Lucia and I havent looked back. When I am not in the books (or the field) I like horse riding, cooking (and eating), travelling, diving, going to the gym and watching cartoons.