Most people spend a lot of money to figure out “who they are”. True branding gurus say it’s pretty simple: just list down 3 things you cannot stop doing. These are my top three:

Incubator

I can’t stop coming up with ideas for new research projects and directions. Some of them might be wacky but I take pride in writing down my ideas (and they are often many) and wishing I had staff and money to do them all.

Connector

I can’t stop connecting people and ideas. Whenever I meet someone, my brain goes into ‘connector mode’ and starts immediately mapping who they should be talking to, which ideas and methods should be connected, and which ideas fit with what projects and people. I reach out to people because I believe that connectedness is far more important than admiring and thinking from afar.

Reflector

One of my greatest contributions is my ability to reflect on ideas and connections, and persist in idea development over time. That’s why some of my best work takes longer but pays off in the end.

My research is driven by an inherent curiosity as to why we think the way we do, and what rules of thumb we use to justify the decisions we make. I am specifically interested on adaptation heuristics that are rules of thumb on how we can, could and should adapt to the impacts of climate change and how these assumptions either help or hinder our decision-making.

I’m a keen follower in particular of Gary Klein. Klein’s work on the role of insights and intuition in decision-making has made me aware of how we accumulate knowledge and expertise, and how such patterns are used in decision-making. I am currently leading an Australian Research Council DECRA project on climate adaptation heuristics that seeks to challenge and raise discussion on many of the hidden but powerful heuristics that are at play when we start discussing what “effective” and “successful” adaptation to climate change looks like.

My research is driven by an inherent curiosity as to why we think the way we do, and what rules of thumb we use to justify what decision to make, how and why. At the global and national level, I am specifically interested on adaptation heuristics that are rules of thumb on how we can, could and should adapt to the impacts of climate change and how these assumptions either help or hinder our decision-making.

I’m a keen follower in particular of Gary Klein. Klein’s work in on the role of insights and intuition in decision-making points to an increasingly important awareness of how we accumulate knowledge and expertise, and how such patterns are used in decision-making. I am currently leading an Australian Research Council DECRA project on climate adaptation heuristics that seeks to challenge and raise discussion on many of the hidden but powerful heuristics that are at play when we start discussing what “effective” and “successful” adaptation to climate change looks like.