Prof Frank Vanclay    BSc(Hon) (Griffith),  MSocSci (Qld), PhD (Wageningen)     Professor of rural and environmental sociology    Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research,  University of Tasmania   link to Rural Social Research Group   link to the official UTAS publications and grants data collection (WARP)  download 2009 workplan for the Rural Social Research Group (70kB PDF)  download full CV  and  full list of publications

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Hot Topics (June 2009)

• Read the graduation address given by me at the PhD conferral of Amabel Fulton [Download speech here PDF 20 KB]
• Look at the highlights of the Rural Practice Change symposium held 14 November 2008 at the University of Melbourne, where you can get access to full text papers, PPTs, short online video extracts of talks, and fvideo recordings of full talks to download.
  
• The International Principles for Social Impact Assessment are in the process of being reviewed [Download PDF 68 KB]. Comments on them are invited. Please email me with any thoughts you may have about them.
• tools for supervising graduate students, more (revised 29 Sept 2008)  now also placed on the fIRST website (for Improving Research Supervision and Training) (in revised format)
• Join the AON listserv, click here. The AON listserv is a low volume newsposting service relating to rural social research and social aspects of NRM. More information.
  

Research interests (general areas of interest)

• social aspects of food, environment, agriculture, science and technology (FEAST)
  
• human dimensions of climate change, natural resource management and environmental management
• social and cultural contribution to endogenous regional development
  
• social sustainability; social indicators for triple bottom line
  
• social aspects of farming and agriculture; styles of farming, typologies of farmers
• social conceptions of place, sense of place
• social impact assessment
• community development, public participation, community engagement, participatory process
• rural & environmental sociology; sociology of agriculture & food
• sociology of agricultural extension,  practice change, capacity building
• agricultural extension theory, and theories of adoption and innovation
• social studies of science and technology; technology assessment
  
• social research methods, spatial data analysis of social data
  

Current research (specific projects in 2009)

• Technology Assessment in social context. (ARC Discovery grant). refer to TASC website
• Improving community engagement processes in the forestry industry (CRC Forestry).
• Social factors associated with the use of Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001) in agriculture.
• Social aspects of climate change
• Adoption of information and communication technologies in the Tasmanian dairy industry
• Adoption of information and communication technologies in the Tasmanian vegetable industry
• Updating the International Principles for Social Impact Assessment [Download PDF 68 KB]
• Extending extension:  Improving communication in agriculture and natural resource management Published paper abstract   SELN extension statement

Recently completed research projects

• Sense of Place. Organised the SENSES of Place conference in 2006, and edited book Making Sense of Place published in 2008.
  
• Committing to Place: potential of outreach projects to contribute to environmental awareness (see publications on the CTP website).
• International guidelines and principles for social impact assessment. Download PDF 68 KB
• Landcare and natural resource management
• Cottage industries in Tasmanian agriculture
  
• Styles of farming in Australian agriculture Download PDF

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Supervision of PhD students (current in 2009) (click here for more details)

• Genevieve Carruthers: "Social factors affecting adoption and implementation of Environmental Management Systems in agriculture"
• Lain Dare: "Community engagement in the forestry industry"
• Aysha Fleming: "Community resistance to climate change: A case study of Tasmanian farmers"
• Sophie Henry: "Transforming the environment through transformational education: Engaging students in natural resource management"
• Julie Kimber: "Assessing the social consequences of agricultural biotechnologies"
• Peat Leith: "Climate perceptions and land management decisions"

PhD graduates

Amabel Fulton: "Enabling Change in Family Farm Businesses". Now Director and Senior Consultant with Rural Development Services Pty Ltd. (graduated UTAS 2009). [Download PhD as a PDF WARNING 9.5 MB, 487 pages]. Read the graduation address given by Prof Vanclay at the PhD conferral of Amabel Fulton [Download speech here PDF 20 KB]

Joanna Wills: "Museums, communities and participatory projects". Now a Cultural Heritage Officer with Queensland Enviromental Protection Agency. (graduated UTAS 2008).

Anna Gralton: "Endogenous regional development: cottage industries in Tasmanian agriculture". Now a freelance research consultant.  (graduated UTAS 2008).

Annelies Stolp, "Citizen values assessment: an instrument for the integration of citizens' perspectives in EIA". Now Director of a Netherlands-based research consultancy, MultiValue, which specialises in citizen values assessment.  (graduated Leiden University, The Netherlands 2006).  [Download PhD as a PDF WARNING 3.6 MB, 256 pages]

Peter Howden, "Working with the grain: Farming styles in broadacre cropping".  Now Senior Social Researcher with the Practice Change Research section of the Victorian Department of Primary Industries in Bendigo (graduated CSU 2002).

Stewart Lockie, "Sociocultural dynamics and the development of the Landcare movement in Australia". Now Professor and Director of the Centre for Social Science Research, Central Queensland University (graduated CSU 1997). 

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Tools for Supervision

These templates were developed by Frank Vanclay and are useful in the supervision process. They are available for private use and may be circulated further if acknowledgement is given.  They have been installed in a somewhat revised format on the fIRST website (for Improving Research Supervision and Training). Please feel free to discuss their use with me.

• explanation and example of a memorandum of understanding about supervision between student and supervisor download PDF 62KB
• thesis outline and overview, a working discussion document between supervisor and student.    download: (a) Word template 70KB     (b) PDF explanation 55KB
• template for a research proposal   download Word doc 34KB
  
• powerpoint presentation on Communication in Supervision  download PDF 800KB

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Involvement in Editorial Boards (current and recent)

• Agricultural Systems  (former member of the Editorial Board)
  
 
• Environmental Impact Assessment Review  (member of the Editorial Policy Committee)

• Extension Farming Systems Journal  (member of the Editorial Board)
  
 
• Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal  (previous member of the Editorial Board and former Chair of Publications Committee)

• Rural Society  (member of the Editorial Board)
  
 
• Society and Natural Resources  (former member of Editorial Board)
  
 
• Research in Rural Sociology and Development (was Elsevier now Emerald book series)  (member of the Editorial Advisory Board)

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Publications

Books

Vanclay, F., Higgins, M. & Blackshaw, A. (eds) 2008  Making Sense of Place. Canberra: National Museum of Australia Press.

Becker, H. & Vanclay, F. (eds) 2003 (hbk) 2006 (pbk) The International Handbook of Social Impact Assessment. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Vanclay, F. & Mesiti, L. (eds) 1997 Sustainability and Social Research: Proceedings of the 1997 Conference of the Australian Association for Social Research Inc, Wagga Wagga: Centre for Rural Social Research, Charles Sturt University. [Download PDF WARNING 1.8 MB, 304 pages]

Lockie, S. & Vanclay, F. (eds) 1997  Critical Landcare, Wagga: Centre for Rural Social Research, Charles Sturt University. [Download PDF 1.8 MB, 249 pages]

Vanclay, F. & Lawrence, G. 1995  The Environmental Imperative: Ecosocial concerns for Australian agriculture. Rockhampton: Central Queensland University Press.

Vanclay, F. & Bronstein, D. (eds) 1995  Environmental and Social Impact Assessment. Chichester: Wiley.

Vanclay, F. (ed) 1995 'With a rural focus': An edited and refereed collection of papers with a rural focus presented to the annual conference of The Australian Sociological Association. Wagga Wagga: Centre for Rural Social Research. [Download  PDF 1.0 MB, 130 pages]

Lawrence, G., Vanclay, F. & Furze, B. (eds) 1992  Agriculture, environment and society. Melbourne: Macmillan.
 

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On-Line Bibliography

Other Recent publications (selection only)

Dare, M., Schirmer, J. & Vanclay, F. 2008 A brief guide to effective community engagement in the Australian plantation sector, Technical Report 181, Hobart: Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry,  [Download PDF 260 KB]

Vanclay, F. 2008 “Place matters”, in Vanclay, F., Higgins, M. & Blackshaw, A. (eds) Making Sense of Place, Canberra: National Museum of Australia Press, 2-11.

Vanclay, F., Wills, J. & Lane, R. 2008 “Museum outreach programs creating sense of place”, in Vanclay, F., Higgins, M. & Blackshaw, A. (eds) Making Sense of Place, Canberra: National Museum of Australia Press, 278-287.

Lane, R., Wills, J., Vanclay, F. & Lucas, D. 2008 “Vernacular heritage and evolving environmental policy in Australia: Lessons from the Murray-Darling Outreach Project”, Geoforum 39(3): 1305-1317

Vanclay, F., Silvasti, T. & Howden, P. 2007 “Styles, Parables and Scripts: Diversity and conformity in Australian and Finnish agriculture”, Rural Society 17(1): 3-18  more

Carruthers, G. & Vanclay, F. 2007 “Enhancing the social content of Environmental Management Systems in Australian agriculture”, International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology 6(3): 326-340.

Lane, R., Vanclay, F., Wills, J. and Lucas, D. 2007 “Museum outreach programs to promote community engagement in local environmental issues”, The Australian Journal of Public Administration 66(2): 159-174.

Pannell, D.J., Marshall, G., Barr, N., Curtis, A. Vanclay, F., Wilkinson, R. 2006, “Understanding and promoting adoption of conservation practices by rural landholders” Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 46(11): 1407-1424.  free access summary      full article from AJEA website    [Download PDF 153 KB]

Mesiti, L. & Vanclay, F. 2006, “Specifying the farming styles in viticulture” Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 46(4): 585-593. [Download PDF 98 KB].

Vanclay, F. et al. 2006, “Committing to Place: museum outreach as NRM extension”, Proceedings of the Australasia Pacific Extension Network conference, La Trobe University, Beechworth, 5-8 March 2006.

Vanclay, F. 2006 ‘Principles for Social Impact Assessment: a critical comparison between the International and US documents’, Environmental Impact Assessment Review 26(1): 3-14.

Gralton, A. & Vanclay, F. 2005 ‘Quality food production, diversity and sustainability: opportunities for small towns’, Proceedings of the 2nd National Conference on the Future of Australian Country Towns, Bendigo, Victoria (11-13 July 2005), paper on conf website  conference website [Download PDF 493 KB] Also published as: Gralton, A. & Vanclay, F. (2006) “Quality food production, diversity and sustainability: opportunities for small towns”, in Rogers, M. & Jones, D. (eds) The Changing Nature of Australia’s Country Towns, Ballarat: VURRN Press (Victorian Universities Regional Research Network Press), 126-138.

Lane, R., Lucas, D., Vanclay, F., Henry, S., Wills, J. & Coates, I. 2005 ‘Committing to Place’ at the local scale: The potential of youth education programs for promoting community participation in regional natural resource management, Australian Geographer 36(3): 351-367.

Craig, A. & Vanclay, F. 2005 ‘Questioning the potential of deliberativeness to achieve ‘acceptable’ natural resource management decisions’ in Martin & Eversole (eds) Participation and Governance in Regional Development, Aldershot (UK): Ashgate, 155-172.

Vanclay, F, 2005 ‘Engaging Communities with Social Impact Assessment: SIA as a Social Assurance Process’, Proceedings of the International Conference on Engaging Communities, Brisbane, Queensland, conference website [Download PDF 165 KB]

Kilpatrick, S. and Vanclay, F. 2005 “Communities of practice for building social capital in rural Australia: a case study of ExecutiveLink”, in Dale, A. and Onyx, J. (eds) Social Capital and Sustainable Community Development, UBC Press, Vancouver, 141-158.

Vanclay. F. 2004 “Social principles for agricultural extension to assist in the promotion of natural resource management”, Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 44(3): 213-222. [Download PDF 78 KB].

Vanclay, F., Lane, R., Wills, J., Coates, I. and Lucas. D. 2004 ‘Committing to Place’ and evaluating the higher purpose: Increasing engagement in natural resource management through museum outreach and educational activities, Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management 6(4): 539-564.

Vanclay, F. 2004 The Triple Bottom Line and Impact Assessment: How do TBL, EIA, SIA, SEA and EMS relate to each other?, Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management 6(3): 265-288.

Vanclay, F. 2004 ‘Assessing the social consequences of planned interventions’, in R. White (ed.) Controversies in Environmental Sociology, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 257-275.

Vanclay, F. 2004 ‘Soil and water sustainability issues related to Australian grain cropping systems’, in R. Lal, P. Hobbs, N. Uphoff and D. Hansen (eds) Sustainable agriculture and the Rice-Wheat System, New York: Marcel Dekker, 403-420.

Burdge, R. & Vanclay, F. 2004 ‘The future practice of social impact assessment’, in Burdge, R. (ed.), The Concepts, Process and Methods of Social Impact Assessment, Middleton: Social Ecology Press, 283-292.

Vanclay, F. 2003 ‘International Principles for Social Impact Assessment’, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal 21(1), 5-11. [Download PDF 68 KB].

Vanclay, F. 2003 ‘The impacts of deregulation and agricultural restructuring for rural Australia’, Australian Journal of Social Issues 38(1), 81-94. [Download PDF 168 KB].

Vanclay, F. 2002 ‘Social impact assessment’, Encyclopedia of Global Environmental Change (Vol 4), Chichester: Wiley, pages 387-393.

Stolp, A., Groen, W., van Vliet, J. & Vanclay, F. 2002 ‘Citizen values assessment: incorporating citizens’ value judgements in environmental impact assessment’, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal 20(1): 11-23. [Download PDF 406 Kb]

Vanclay, F. 2002 ‘Conceptualising social impacts’, Environmental Impact Assessment Review 22(3): 183-211.

Slootweg, R., Vanclay, F. and van Schooten, M. 2001 ‘Function evaluation as a framework for the integration of social and environmental impact assessment’, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal 19(1): 19-28. [Download PDF 1.3 Mb] This paper won the International Association for Impact Assessment Best Paper for 2001 award.

Cullen, P. et al. (total of 12 authors) 2001 Knowledge Seeking Strategies of Natural Resource Professionals, Technical Report 2/2001, Canberra: Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology, and Land and Water Australia. [Download PDF 600KB]

Lawrence, G., Norton, J. & Vanclay, F. 2001 ‘Gene technology, agri-food industries and consumers’ in Hindmarsh, R. and Lawrence, G. (eds), Altered Genes II: The Future, Melbourne: Scribe, pages 143-159.

Vanclay, F. 2000 ‘Social impact assessment’, in Lee N and George C (eds) Environmental Assessment in Developing  and Transitional Countries, Chichester: Wiley, pages 125-136.

Howden, P. & Vanclay, F. 2000 ‘Mythologisation of farming styles in Australian broadacre cropping’, Rural Sociology (USA), 65(2): 295-310.

Vanclay, F. 2000 'The social effects of deregulation in agriculture on rural areas of Australia', in Actas Oficiales del Congresso Internacional sobre Comercio y Desarrollo Rural (conference held Nov 1998, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country, Spain), Vitoria-Gasteiz: Eusko Jaurlaritzaren Argitalpen Zerbitzu Nagusia, pages 262-276.

Sadler, B., Verocai, I. & Vanclay, F. 2000 Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for Large Dams, Cape Town: World Commission on Dams. [Download PDF 428KB]

Vanclay, F. 1999 Social Impact Assessment, Cape Town: World Commission on Dams. [Download PDF 92KB]

Vanclay, F. 1999 ‘Social impact assessment’, in Petts J (ed.) Handbook of Environmental Impact Assessment (Volume 1), Oxford: Blackwell Science, pages 301-326.

Vanclay, F. 1999 ‘The role of Social Impact Assessment in community development’. In Doyle, R., Khittisangka, M., Seubsman, S. & Vanclay, F. 1999 Building Partnerships for Better Development: Proceedings of the 1st International Outlook Conference on Community Development in Asia- Pacific (conference held Sept 1998 at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, Bangkok, Thailand), Wagga Wagga: Centre for Rural Social Research, Charles Sturt University, pages 102-112.

Vanclay, F., Mesiti, L. & Howden, P. 1998 ‘Styles of farming and farming subcultures: Appropriate concepts for Australian rural sociology?’, Rural Society 8(2): 85-107. [Download PDF 472KB]

Howden, P., Vanclay, F., Lemerle, D. & Kent, J. 1998 ‘Working with the Grain: Farming styles amongst Australian broadacre croppers’, Rural Society 8(2): 109-125. [Download PDF 394KB]

Mesiti, L. & Vanclay, F. 1997 ‘Identifying farming styles in Australian viticulture’ in Vanclay, F. Mesiti L. (eds) Sustainability and Social Research, Wagga Wagga: Centre for Rural Social Research, Charles Sturt University, pages 275-288.  [Download chapter PDF 533KB, 14 pages]  [Download whole book  PDF 1.8 MB, 304 pages]

Vanclay F. 1997 ‘The social basis of environmental management in agriculture’ in S. Lockie & F. Vanclay (eds) Critical Landcare. Wagga Wagga: Centre for Rural Social Research, Charles Sturt University, pages 9-27. [Download whole book PDF 1.8 MB, 249 pages]

Vanclay F. & A. Hely 1997  Land degradation and land management in central NSW: Changes in farmers’ perceptions, knowledge and practices. Wagga Wagga: Centre for Rural Social Research, Charles Sturt University.

Glyde, S. & F. Vanclay. 1996 ‘Farming styles and technology transfer: Sociological input in the development of a decision support system for viticulture’. In G. Lawrence, K. Lyons & S. Momtaz (eds) Social change in rural Australia. Rockhampton: Rural Social and Economic Research Centre, Central Queensland University, pages 38-54.

Mesiti, L. & F. Vanclay. 1996 ‘Farming styles amongst grape growers of the Sunraysia district’. In G. Lawrence, K. Lyons & S. Momtaz (eds). Social change in rural Australia. Rockhampton: Rural Social and Economic Research Centre, Central Queensland University, pages 55-63.

Lawrence, G. & F. Vanclay. 1996 ‘Australian farming after agriculture’. Arena Magazine 24: 34-37.

Vanclay, F. 1995 Tourist perceptions of the Great Barrier Reef. Townsville: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Burdge, R. & F. Vanclay 1995 'Social impact assessment'. In F. Vanclay & D. Bronstein (eds) Environmental and social impact assessment. Chichester: Wiley.

Vanclay, F. 1995 "Actors and structures in agriculture". Pp 89-128 in Vanclay, F. (ed.) 'With a rural focus': An edited and refereed collection of papers with a rural focus presented to the annual conference of The Australian Sociological Association. Wagga Wagga: Centre for Rural Social Research. [Download  PDF 1.0 MB, 130 pages]

Lawrence, G & F. Vanclay. 1994 'Agricultural change in the semi-periphery: The Murray-Darling basin, Australia'. In P. McMichael (ed) The global restructuring of agro-food systems. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pages 76-103.

Vanclay F. & G. Lawrence. 1994 'Farmer rationality and the adoption of environmentally sound practices: A critique of the assumptions of traditional agricultural extension'. European Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension 1(1): 59-90.

Vanclay F. 1994 'Hegemonic landcare', Rural Society 4(3/4): 45-47.

Vanclay F. 1994  'A crisis in agricultural extension', Rural Society 4(1): 10-13.

Vanclay F. & G. Lawrence. 1993 'Social and environmental impacts of economic restructuring in Australian agriculture'. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 3: 97-118. [Download PDF 3.5 MB WARNING LARGE].

Vanclay F. 1992 'Barriers to adoption: A general overview of the issues', Rural Society 2(2): 10-12.

Vanclay F. 1992 'The social context of farmers' adoption of environmentally-sound farming practices'. In G. Lawrence, F. Vanclay & B. Furze (eds) Agriculture, environment and society. Melbourne: Macmillan, pages 94-121.
 
 

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Memberships of Professional Associations

Rural Sociological Society (of North America) (life member)
European Society for Rural Sociology
Royal Geographical Society (UK)  (fellow)

The Australian Sociological Association   member of the Environment & Society thematic group
Australasian Evaluation Society
Australasian Pacific Extension Network (was Convenor of the 2003 Forum: "Extending extension: beyond traditional boundaries, methods and ways of thinking")
Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand
Institute of Australian Geographers    (Rural Study Group)
Australian Farm Institute

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Research Networks and CRCs

Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry

Have previously been a member of:
CRC  for Viticulture
CRC for Weed Management
CRC for Plant Based Management of Dryland Salinity

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Committee and Steering Group membership (current and recent only)

Academic Senate University of Tasmania  and member of Senate Standing Committee

UTAS Board of Graduate Research

UTAS representative to the Australian Universities Community Engagement Alliance

UTAS Community Engagement Reference Group

Steering Committee of the Community Landcare Coordinator for NRM South.

Wildcare Gift Fund Management Committee
 

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Career Highlights

Organised the  Senses of Place Conference: exploring concepts and expressions of place through different senses and lenses, Hobart 6-8 April 2006. This was held as part of the Mountain Festival  a community-based, sense of place festival centered around Mt. Wellington in south-east Tasmania which develops community partnerships and innovative arts projects linking the arts, science, community and environment. Was primary editor of the book, Making Sense of Place, published in 2008 by the National Museum of Australia Press.

Was co-promotor (supervisor) of Annelies Stolp with Prof Helias Udo de Haes at the Centre of Environmental Science at Leiden University, The Netherlands. Annelies defended her PhD thesis, Citizen values assessment: an instrument for the integration of citizens' perspectives in Environmental Impact Assessment, on 13 June 2006.  She developed a new method for integrating social issues into the EIA process. The graduation of Annelies was significant for me - not because she was my first PhD graduate (she was in fact my third) -  but because I invested much energy into her supervision and because it is somehow special that an Australian should promote a person in The Netherlands. With my Dutch background and because I had received my own PhD from a Netherlands University (Wageningen in 1994), this event was very symbolic of progress in my own career. The ritual and atmosphere of a Dutch promotie (PhD graduation), which is much more spectacular than an Australian PhD graduation, contributed to the symbolism and solemnity of the event, making it more significant than my Australian graduations. The event was special too in that it was my first graduation as a full professor, a requirement of 'promotoren' in The Netherlands. [Download PDF WARNING 3.6 MB, 256 pages]

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Contact details

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Web site updated by Frank Vanclay
Last update 2 June 2009
Copyright TIAR 2009