University launches worldwide search for nature-focused researchers

As governments and businesses around the world grapple with climate change and biodiversity loss, Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland is launching an international search for ten PhD researchers to help shape a more ‘nature positive’ economy.

The fully funded doctoral positions are part of New Zealand's first Nature Positive Hub, a new initiative based in the Business School.

Nature positive means going beyond reducing environmental harm to actively restoring biodiversity and regenerating ecosystems. The researchers will examine how organisations, markets and governments can redesign systems and ways of working while supporting long-term social and economic wellbeing.

They will tackle pressing environmental and economic challenges ranging from regenerative forestry and the future of fisheries management to biodiversity markets, corporate governance, rights of nature and regional environmental restoration.

Other projects will examine how communication shapes public trust and support for environmental action and what it would mean for Aotearoa New Zealand to treat nature as shared sovereign wealth.

Dr Billie Lythberg (Business School) will supervise a project exploring why and how some large-scale environmental restoration initiatives in Aotearoa New Zealand have endured while others have struggled.

She says understanding the relationships, governance and long-term commitment behind successful projects will help inform future regional restoration efforts in New Zealand and internationally.

“The environmental challenges we face are systems challenges. Understanding why and how some nature-positive initiatives thrive requires us to look beyond individual projects to the relationships, governance, and practices that sustain them over time.

“This research will help identify transformational and relational approaches to regeneration that can support resilient communities and flourishing ecosystems in Aotearoa and beyond."

From 2027, the doctoral researchers will be based in the Business School and will have the opportunity to participate in mentoring, workshops, and collaborations with national and international researchers, policymakers, and industry.

Professor Susan Watson, Director of Juncture: Dialogues on Inclusive Capitalism under which the Nature Positive Hub sits, says the investment reflects the University's commitment to tackling the defining challenges of our time. 

“Together, our cohort of ten PhD researchers, the Hub’s director and our postdoctoral fellows will establish the University of Auckland as an international centre for nature-positive research.

“New Zealand is rich in nature, so it is fitting that the country's leading university builds on its existing strengths by investing in the next generation of nature-positive researchers. This initiative will make a lasting difference.”

In September, the Nature Positive Hub will welcome an internationally recognised researcher from a leading Ivy League university as its inaugural director.