Genevieve Allen’s research explores the role of crisis in sustainability transformations from a complex adaptive systems perspective.

Allen’s research focuses on elucidating the role of crisis in sustainability transformations, emphasising the impacts of narratives. Through the case study of Rights of Nature in the EU, Allen is interested in cross-scale interactions between local movements and international policy discourse, and in the role these could play in transformative change in interlinked social-ecological systems.

Allen’s research takes place under the ERC-funded project TransMod, which aims to build models of, with, and for sustainability transformations. Allen will employ a mixed-methods research approach, combining empirical research with agent-based modelling, investigating the factors shaping transformative change. She is also part of the SES-LINK group, which studies the dynamics of social-ecological systems.

Allen comes from a multidisciplinary background and has a strong interest in the ecology and politics of environmental conflict. Having completed a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, she worked as a research assistant on a MOPGA-fellowship project exploring the genomics of the invasive plant species Japanese knotweed.

Allen completed a Master’s degree at the University of Eastern Finland in Environmental Policy & Law, majoring in Natural Resource Governance. During her studies, she became interested in collaborative approaches and their potential to address high-stakes environmental conflicts and assist sustainability transformations. Her thesis examined collaboration and stakeholder engagement in Finnish flood risk management groups. Following the completion of her Master’s degree, Allen moved to Helsinki to work with Akordi Oy, a company offering professional services as a neutral party in the mediation of complex environmental conflicts.

Supervisors
Maja Schlüter
Kirill Orach
Per Olsson