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Dr Jessica McLean, Research Officer

photo of Jessica McLean

Jessica joins the Mekong Research Group as a researcher on a part-time basis. She has a strong interest in the human geography of the Mekong region, having travelled there several times and studied its geography while undertaking a Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Arts.

Jessica brings to the AMRC extensive administrative and research experience – from working with the Centre for Risk and Community Safety at RMIT, to helping Indigenous organisations in the Kimberley. Also, Jessica has tutored and lectured at university level, in topics including comparing water politics in the Ord catchment to the Murray Darling, and examining Indigenous issues within Australia.

In 2010, Jessica was awarded a PhD from the University of Sydney’s School of Geosciences. Her doctorate examines water matters in northern Australia, following ethnographic research with Indigenous organisations based in the Ord Catchment. Environmental justice, especially around water politics, is a strong focus of her research and she looks forward to applying these learnings to the Mekong context.

Currently, Jessica is working on the livelihood adpatation in Lao PDR project, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.

School of Geosciences
Madsen Building (FO9), Rm 470
University of Sydney, NSW, 2006
Tel: (+612) 9351 7796

Email:

Selected publications

  • McLean, J. 2012. From dispossession to compensation: A political ecology of the Ord Final Agreement as a partial success story for Indigenous Traditional Owners. Australian Geographer. 43 (4): 339-355. Full text here
  • McLean, J. 2011. Shifting the gender, mining and livelihoods terrain: book review. Asia Pacific Viewpoint. Volume 52, Issue 3, pp 376-377.Full text here
  • McLean, J. 2010. A Geography of Water Matters in the Ord Catchment, Northern Australia. PhD Thesis, University of Sydney.
    Full text here.
  • McLean, J. 2007. Water injustices and potential remedies in Indigenous rural contexts: a water justice analysis. The Environmentalist. 27 (1). pp 25-38. Full text and abstract