Introducing New Sustainability Lecturer Kate Davies

UEP will welcome Kate Davies to the faculty roster this upcoming fall semester as a full-time lecturer in
sustainability.

Kate’s work focuses on navigating equitable transformations to sustainability using a range of collaborative and participatory methods. Recent projects include developing serious games to address air quality challenges in the Salt Lake Valley and using scenario planning techniques to improve cumulative effects management in Aotearoa New Zealand’s coastal and marine areas. Kate has also worked with the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) to develop scenarios that inform global and regional biodiversity and ecosystem service assessments. Through the co-production of knowledge and practice, these projects aim to improve social and ecological outcomes and enhance the resilience of communities by supporting individuals and institutions to grapple with environmental change across interests and scales.

Prior to joining UEP, Kate has worked as a social scientist for the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in Aotearoa New Zealand, an urban planner in Salt Lake City, and a Research Assistant Professor in Geography at the University of Utah. She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science from the University of Auckland and a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Oberlin College.

Education: 
Ph.D., University of Auckland
M.Sc., University of Auckland
B.A., Oberlin College


Expertise: Adaptive governance, coastal and marine management, equitable sustainability transformations,
resilience planning


Check out the UEPodcast episode featuring an interview with Kate, here.