Key research themes
1. How can relational values reshape environmental preservation policy beyond intrinsic and instrumental frameworks?
This theme investigates the concept of relational values—how people's relationships and responsibilities to nature and each other shape environmental values—and proposes that incorporating relational values into policy can enable more culturally resonant and ethically robust environmental preservation strategies. It foregrounds how relational values are distinct from, and complementary to, intrinsic (nature's inherent worth) and instrumental (nature's utility) values, aiming to develop a framework that reflects diverse worldviews and moral foundations.
2. What are the evolving approaches and political paradigms shaping contemporary conservation practice and its socio-political implications?
Research in this theme focuses on redefining conservation beyond traditional preservation-restoration dichotomies, emphasizing the 'how' of conservation practice—governance, inclusiveness, co-production, and ethics—and linking it with broader socio-political systems including neoliberal market forces. This area includes critical assessments of conservation’s changing institutional roles, community relations, justice frameworks, and challenges posed by commodification and political boundary constructions within conservation policy and practice.
3. How do perceived value conflicts between nature conservation and climate protection influence societal acceptance of environmental policies?
This theme addresses the interplay and potential tensions between biodiversity conservation goals and climate change mitigation efforts. It analyses social acceptance of overlapping and sometimes competing environmental policies, focusing on underlying values, norms, political orientation, and perceived compatibility between conservation and climate protection. Understanding these dynamics informs the design of climate and conservation policies that are socially viable and aligned with diverse environmental values.





