Dr Sonia Graham
Today’s guest is a Senior Research Associate in the School of Geography and Sustainable Communities at the University of Wollongong.
She has been researching the social side of weeds for over 10 years
Her PhD research looked at the way that farmers and other private land managers work together and with government to manage serrated tussock (Nassella trichotoma)
Research on weeds since then has been investigating the ways in which community groups are set up and run to manage weeds collectively and cooperatively
in 2020 she began working on a five-year project to try and get more comprehensive data diverse weed management community groups across south-east NSW
The questions the project is investigating includes:
How do communities collectively manage weeds?
Are collective approaches more effective than individual approaches?
What enables, constrains and sustains collective weed management?
How can governments support effective collective initiatives?
She is also currently leading the social science component of a GRDC Rural R&D for Profit project that is exploring ‘Area-Wide Management of Weeds’ in cropping systems
