Dr Ruth O'Connor
Australian National University
About
Dr Ruth O’Connor is a Research Fellow and social scientist at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy. Ruth is a public engagement specialist at the Institute for Infrastructure in Society, where she works with industry partners to develop best practice infrastructure engagement processes and evaluation. She recently led research applying the social licence to operate concept to public policy reform with a case study on water sustainability.
Her PhD research at the ANU Centre for the Public Awareness of Science focussed on two national engagement programs: an Australian case involving environmental managers integrating climate change research into regional planning, and a South African case involving co-production of national river conservation planning by different levels of government and researchers.
Before joining the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy, Ruth worked with researchers and stakeholders from across the water sector as a Knowledge Exchange Specialist in various collaborative research groups including the CRC for Freshwater Ecology, eWater CRC, and the federally funded Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge research consortium.