Johanna Nalau

ARC Discovery Early Career Research Fellow (2019-2021), Adaptation Science Research Theme Leader, Cities Research Institute, Griffith University

I am an adaptation scientist with a PhD in climate change adaptation at Griffith University based on the Gold Coast, Australia. My research is focused on understanding how, why and when people make decisions to adapt to climate change, and what role adaptation science can and should play in that process. My current Australian Research Council project investigates the core assumptions that have emerged about climate change adaptation, and how these assumptions dominate both the global science and policy space and guide our decision-making in pursuing effective and successful adaptation to climate change. 

I am a Lead Author in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment report in Working Group II Chapter 15 Small Islands, an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow (2019-2021), and Managing Editor of the Journal of Climate Risk Management. I also lead the Adaptation Science Research Theme at Cities Research Institute at Griffith University that focuses on bringing together some of our university’s key thinkers on adaptation. All of these roles focus on understanding the core principles of climate change adaptation, and how adaptation science can play a positive role in evidence-based decision-making.

I am also a huge leadership fanatic as I firmly believe that daring leadership enables better lives and better decisions across organisations and scientific fields. Each week I explore the linkages between leadership, decision-making and climate adaptation in my weekly blog at www.johannanalau.com and challenge some of our current thinking on how we really make decisions and what role innovation and science can play in adaptation.