Governing ResOurce UrbanisaTion (GROUT): Multi-stakeholder governance of extractive industries in the era of planetary urbanisation

GROUT will address the governance challenges posed by mining projects advancing close to urban areas.

Europe is making a concerted effort to increase a sustainable supply of minerals from European sources, This project will improve knowledge and expertise on the governance of these urbanising frontiers.

This fellowship will be carried out in the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) at University of Queensland (UQ), Australia, under the supervision of Dr. Jo-Anne Everingham, expert in governance studies.

After two years I will return to the Institute of Science and Environmental Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), Spain, under the supervision of Prof. Isabelle Anguelovski, head of the Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability.

Through the study of a Coal Seam Gas extraction project in the outskirts of Sydney I will innovatively combine qualitative (in-depth interviews and participant observation) and participative (World Cafe) methodologies to analyse the transformations of subjects and institutions through the analysis of power relations and environmental justice.

By bringing together the inter-disciplinary fields of political ecology of extractive industries (my own expertise) with resource governance and critical urban studies (training plan) I will advance theory and analysis in the new theoretical field of Resource Urbanisation Governance (RUG).

I will place special emphasis in understanding the transformations affecting women (narratives and demands, power imbalances and consequences).

My training plan will include training on resource governance (at CSRM), critical urban-studies (at ICTA-UAB and UQ), Environmental Justice (ICTA-UAB and University of Sydney) and transferable skills such as gender research, facilitation, communication, project management.

These will be of extreme importance for the communication and dissemination of project results and to achieve the goals of my Career Development Plan.