Successful MSCA postdoc application by Geoff Wells

Some text from the proposal abstract. Geoff's su email is still operating if you want to contact him about this work, otherwise he's currently at Geoff.Wells@ed.ac.uk: "InSiTe-LandGov combines big data with qualitative approaches to generate new open access datasets and methods on natural resource governance—a critical data gap in sustainability science. It will test these using existing data from a unique network of >5000 research plotsacross the world’s biggest savannah woodland, spanning 12 countries in southern Africa. First, I will produce a typology of current methods for observing resource governance that bridges the divide between positivist and constructivist approaches. I will do this through a systematic review and workshops with experts from Europe, North America and southern Africa. Second, I will generate a new open access dataset on governance for the entire southern African woodland biome. I will use machine learning, open access ‘big’ satellite and census data, the >5000 research plots, and a field visit to Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Finally, I will produce a world-first analysis on how aspects of resource governance affect environmental degradation and poverty across the region. I will use a novel approach combining qualitative and big data methods. In this fellowship I aim to build on my existing skills to define myself as a global experti n interdisciplinary governance research, and to secure a long term job at a European university. I will draw on the expertise of supervisors at three world-class hubs of sustainability research: McGill University, University of Edinburgh and the Stockholm Resilience Centre."