Coming from a professional background in education as a secondary teacher, and a long-time involvement in politics and environmentalism, Robin joined ANU in 1999 - the year she also won a seat as a Councillor on the Snowy River Shire Council on a platform of issues relating to sustainable local development, including restoring environmental flows to the Snowy River. She was appointed Chair of the South East Waste Board at the end of 1999, a position she held until the end of 2001 and during that same period was a member of the NSW Waste Policy Body. Robin was appointed to the ACT Chief Minister's Sustainability Expert Reference Group in 2002 and currently sits on the ACT Territory and Municipal Services Community Advisory Group, representing science and environmental interests. She has been a Visiting Fellow in the Fenner School since February 2003, during which time she also served a three month period as a Senior Policy Officer in the Department of Agriculture in 2004. Robin lectured in political science and public policy at the University of Canberra in 2005-06, and holds the position of Director of the Canberra Environment and Sustainability Resource Centre, located on the ANU campus. She convenes the Independent Research Project unit at Fenner School

Professional Activities

My research work is largely influenced by my practical involvement in policy development at the local level, with a specific focus on waste management and sustainable urban systems. This necessitates a strongly interdisciplinary approach combining the social sciences with ecology in analysing specific aspects of eco-governance. My doctoral research examined the relationship between green politics and the environment movement, and the dynamics that drive paradigmatic change in eco-political thought using the case study of the campaign to save the Snowy River. Having held a seat in local government and chaired a statutory government authority, my working knowledge of environmental issues in the south-east region, and the socio-political and economic influences on the management of these issues, provides an added dimension to my academic work. As Director of an environmental NGO and having had a long involvement with Landcare, I am also a strong advocate of community-based natural resource management. I am currently working on developing links, formal and informal, between the ANU and the Environment and Sustainability Centre.

Selected Publications

Tennant-Wood, R. 2007. "Ethics, aesthetics and landscape: A socio-environmental philosophy of windfarm siting", paper presented to the European Science Foundation Exploratory Workshop, Emerging Energies, Emerging Landscapes, Revisioning the Past, Constructing the Future, Paris, June 2007

Tennant-Wood, R. and J. Sullivan, 2006. "Best practice recycling in the tertiary sector", chapter in Leal-Filho and Carpenter (eds), Sustainable Practice for International Campuses, Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt

Tennant-Wood, R. 2006. "Silent Partners: the fluid relationship between women and dammed rivers. The case of the Snowy River", chapter in Lahiri-Dutt (ed), Fluid bonds: Views on gender and water, Stree, Calcutta

Tennant-Wood, R. 2004. "The waste land waits on a revolution", The Canberra Times, p.B11, 11 December 2004

Tennant-Wood, R. 2004. "From wasteland to wetland: creating a community ecological resource from waste water in regional New South Wales", Local Environment, Vol.9 No.6, pp.527-539

Tennant-Wood, R. 2004. "The role of the media in the public disclosure of electoral funding", Democratic Audit of Australia, http://democratic.audit.anu.edu.au/Tennant-Wood.pdf

Tennant-Wood, R. 2003. "Going for Zero: a comparative critical analysis of zero waste events in southern New South Wales", Australian Journal of Environmental Management, Vol 10, No.1, pp.46-55

Tennant-Wood, R. 2002. "Social sustainability through local environment policy"- paper presented to Resource NSW Soils and Sustainability Forum, February 2002

Tennant-Wood, R. 2002. "Local Green Governance: the value of community leadership and a sense of place", Ecopolitics Journal, Vol.1, No.3, Autumn 2002 pp.55-61

Beavis, S.G. & R.Tennant-Wood, 2001. "Waste minimisation in schools: mapping successful pathways" ? paper presented to Waste Educate 2001 Conference, Brisbane, Nov.2001, published in Waste Educate 2001: Maintaining the Momentum pp.33-37

Beavis, S.G. & R.Tennant-Wood, 2001. Waste minimisation in schools: a report on Mumbulla School, Rutherglen Primary School, Penola College and Cobden Technical School: a report to the South East Waste Board. Research report, September 2001

Tennant-Wood, R., "Taking out the garbage: waste as a social construct" ? paper presented to Wastebusters and Organics 2001 Conferences, Ashburton NZ, May 2001

Tennant-Wood, R. 2001. "The sociology of waste" ? Keynote address to m?is Symposium, Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, May 2001