Dr Marwan El Hassan

Marwan has a background in Agricultural and Animal Sciences, sustainability and Natural Resource Management. He did a PhD at the Fenner School of Environment and Society on sustainable management of the Australian rangeland goats. Marwan came to his PhD from a career in agriculture. After graduating with a M.Sc. in Animal science from the American University of Beirut, he worked in the poultry industry for two years before joining the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture, where he worked as a forester for 3 years then as an extension officer in animal husbandry and nutrition for 8 years. After coming to Australia in 2008, Marwan joined RSPCA Australia where he worked as Standards and Compliance manager of the Approved Farming Scheme before joining ANU for his PhD. Marwan investigated the rangeland goat industry as a social-ecological system influenced by the conundrum between pest and resource conundrums. Marwan used evidence-based systems frameworks to propose solutions for future collaborative management of goats towards environmental sustainability and growth of Australia’s goat meat industry. During his PhD, Marwan also taught in a number of courses and acted as HDR leader for a total of 3 years. Marwan is currently an Honorary Lecturer in Fenner School of Environment and Society. He is also a member of the Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions (ICEDS) where he co-leads the Risk, Vulnerability and Resilience cluster.

B.Sc.Ag (AUB), M.Sc.AnSc (AUB), GradCertFor (ANU), PhD (ANU)

Marwan’s research interests include applying systems thinking frameworks to address challenges around sustainability and complex social-ecological systems, with specific interest in resilience and human ecology theories. Marwan is interested in using systems-based conceptual frameworks and scenario models to study wicked problems that characterise social-ecological systems, understand the dynamics and behaviour of these systems and explore integrated approaches to tackle their complexities. Marwan also works in the Australian Public Service, and is keenly interested in contributing to bridging gaps at the science/policy interface, through teaching activities and networks of collaborations.