Job title: Lecturer
Phone: 64 9 373 7599 ext 88410
Office: Rm 670, Human Sciences Building,10 Symonds Street, Auckland
Postal: School of Environment, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland
Email: k.fisher@auckland.ac.nz

BA, MSocSc (Waik.), PhD (ANU)

Research Interests:

My research interests fall broadly under the following areas:

• Development and the environment
• Water governance
• Environmental management
• Participatory development

I am primarily concerned with investigating governance, development and the environment. I am particularly interested in the role played by the private sector in facilitating ‘development’ and the implications for society, particularly the poor. Past research has focused on hybrid governance arrangements for urban water supply and evaluating opportunities for participation in a large-scale development project. Future research will continue to explore the complexities of water governance arrangements and urban-rural dynamics in light of climate variability and change. In addition, I am becoming increasingly interested in methodological issues that arise in the conduct of development-oriented research. In addition to my own research projects I have also worked in groups conducting research on a range of resource management-related issues in the Asia-Pacific region.

 

2009: Fisher, KT: Urban water supply and local neoliberalism in Tagbilaran City, the Philippines. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 50(2): 185-197

2008: Fisher KT: Politics and urban water supply.  Development, 51(1): 30-36

2008: Fisher K: Commodification of public water? Investigating how private sector participation affects households in Tagbilaran City, the Philippines, in Alec Thornton and Andrew McGregor (ed.), Southern Perspectives on Development: Dialogue or Division. Proceedings of the Fifth Biennial Conference, University of Otago, Dunedin, 30 November to 2 December 2006.

2006: Roberts, BH and Fisher, KT.  Urban regional economic development in Asia: Trends, issues and future challenges.  Australasian Journal of Regional Studies, 12(3): 165-187.

2001: Fisher, KT and Urich, PB.  TNCs: Aid agents for the new millennium?  Development in Practice, 11(1): 7-19.

POSTGRADUATE SUPERVISION

PhD Students (current):

• Roger Baars: School of Environment: Construction of Regional Identities in Southeast Asia (Primary supervisor; Co-Supervisor Dr David Hayward)
• Kathryn Davies: School of Environment: Modelling Manukau Harbour: A participatory approach to coastal governance and management (Co-supervised jointly with Mark Dickson (additional supervisors Richard Le Heron, Simon Thrush (NIWA))
• Claire Gregory: School of Environment (Co-supervisor; Primary Supervisor Prof Gary Brierley; Co-supervisor Prof Richard Le Heron)
• Bizhan Rahnama: School of Environment: Negotiating the Politics of Water Resource Management: Co-Management as an Approach to Water Governance in the Waikato River Catchment (Primary Supervisor; Co-Supervisor Dr Nick Lewis)

Master supervision (completed)

• Adela Corpuz, MSc: Assessing the capacity building initiatives in integrated coastal management in the PhilippinesKathryn Davies, MSc Candidate: Growing resilience in the Ngakoroa Catchment, Franklin District, North Island, New Zealand
• Genalin Flaminano, MSc Candidate: Solid Waste Management Decentralization: A Successful Case in Laguna, Philippines
• Victoria Jollands, MSc Candidate: Governance and Scale and the Western and Central Pacific Tuna Fishery (co-supervisor Dr Susan Owen)Xinyue Liu, MSc Candidate: Environmental governance: how much does it influence urban water pricing reform? The case study of City Chengdu, China
• Claire Patterson, MSc Candidate: Lost in Translation: The transfer of Climate Change knowledge into sustainable practice among students at the University of Auckland (co-supervisor Dr Susan Owen) Nan Pullman, MSc Candidate: Using incentives to encourage targeted management of watershed services in Northland
• Bizhan Rahnama, MSc Candidate: "You cannot step into the same river twice": effective stakeholder participation for integrated catchment management in Mangakahia, New Zealand
• Danya Rumore, MSc Candidate: Re-politicizing Urban Sustainability and the Politics of the Possible: A Critical Yet Hopeful Analysis of the Making of Project Twin Streams in Waitakere City, New Zealand (co-supervisor Dr Nick Lewis).
• Abeo Trotter, MSc Candidate: Evaluating the application of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in the management of Dominica’s mining industry

 

Honours dissertation students (completed)

• Belinda Hansen, BA (Hons): Rural Contest Over Water: Challenging Notions of Community
• Amy Holliday, BA (Hons): Trends in solid waste management governance in New Zealand
• Ashlee McCormick, BSc (Hons): Do experts’ river management and restoration goals conflict with what the public wants to see? Quantifying the relationships between ecological, morphological and aesthetic values within the Twin Streams Catchment of Waitakere City. BSc (Hons) (co-supervisor Prof. Gary Brierley).
• Claire Patterson, BSc (Hons): Sparking Action: Modes of Community Engagement, Project Twin Streams, Waitakere City – A Case Study.
• Anitaraj Sundararaj, BA (Hons): How can social science inform fisheries governance in New Zealand?