Karen has a background in environmental management, social research and communications. She joined ESR in 2008 after a career in local and central government, and working for an international NGO. She leads the Science, Technology and Society research cluster in the IRFS group, and has been involved in the development of the Asia Pacific STS Network.
Areas of interest
- Environmental management and sustainability
- Science policy decision-making
- Risk governance and risk communication
- Public engagement, particularly through 'dialogue' methods
- The social processes around technology development and transfer
- Public policy and social discourse around biotechnology, nanotechnology and future food technologies
Professional positions and appointments
Chair, organising committee for NZ Science Policy Studies Conference, forthcoming, 2012
Chair, organising committee for workshop on social science and climate change, “Degrees of Possibility – igniting social knowledge around climate change” Dec. 2010
Associate Editor, Journal of the Royal Society of NZ , 2010-
Member International Advisory Board, Asia Pacific Science Technology and Society Network, 2010-
Co Founder and Inaugural Convenor, Asia Pacific Science Technology and Society Network 2008-09
Co Founder and Inaugural Committee Member, NZ Society for Risk Management 2001-04
Member (the World Conservation Union) IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP) 2009-
Member IUCN Commission on Environmental Education and Communication, 1996 – 2006
Co Convenor NZ Committee of CEC Members 2004
Member of OECD international working party which produced member country guidelines on risk communication 1998-2001.
Member of the NZ Government Delegation to the Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Nairobi, Kenya 1997.
Member of the New Zealand Environmental Council, 1985 - 1987 (Ministerial appointment)
Recent projects
2008-12. ‘Coming to the Table – engaging government, science, business and community stakeholders in sustainable decisions on future food technologies to improve New Zealand’s economic and technological outcomes’ - Science Leader for 4 year FRST funded project (C02X0801) using dialogue methods to identify social and market context for future food technologies and integrate with strategic business planning and science investment processes.
2010-11 ‘Degrees of Possibility- igniting social knowledge around climate change’ – Convenor of project to develop a NZ Social Science Research Agenda for Climate Change. Workshop Dec 2010 and report [forthcoming] June 2011.
2010-11. ‘Innovation, Risk and Decision-making’ - Leading an ESR Capability Fund (CF) project to identify new methods for risk decision-making that can be applied in NZ.
2010-11. ‘Science Communication’ - Member of team for research project for the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology, investigating trends in science communication practice.
2010. ‘Credible Scientific Advice’ - Lead a project for the Ministry of Health on the provision of credible scientific advice and risk communication strategies for public /environmental health policy.
Radio presentations
Is the international food system in crisis? (Radio New Zealand National - Ideas, Sunday 5 June 2011)
Chris Laidlaw talks to Oxfam New Zealand's Campaign and Advocacy Director John Stansfield, Otago University Professor of Sociology Hugh Campbell, and Dr Karen Cronin of the Institute of Environmental Science and Research.
LATE 05: Innovate Food (panel discussion, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Thursday 1 July 2010)
Ray Mcvinnie, Rob Whitbourne and Dr Karen Cronin examine the future of food production in New Zealand and the world.
Publications
- papers accepted for publication in international, externally refereed scientific journals, series or books
- papers in local, internally or editor-refereed journals, series or books (note: local refers to the distribution, not to the country of origin)
- conference papers, posters, abstracts
- invited keynote or plenary presentations
ESR SCIENCE PUBLICATIONS