DrCarla Archibald

At its heart, my research asks: what does it take for nature to survive in a world shaped by agriculture and climate change, and what can we actually do about it?

I work across three connected areas. The first is understanding how land, agriculture and food systems affect biodiversity: which species are most exposed to land clearing, farming practices, and changing climate conditions, and how vulnerable they are. I use spatial modelling, land-use analysis, and species distribution data to map these pressures at national scale and under different future scenarios.

The second is private land conservation, which are the tools, incentives, and governance mechanisms that help landholders and people protect and restore biodiversity on their land or working farms. This includes conservation covenants, stewardship programs, and the social and economic factors that influence whether conservation actions are adopted and sustained. Effective conservation on private land requires understanding people as much as species.

The third is focused on my ARC Early Career Reserach Fellowship 'Scaling nature-positive agriculture to support species climate resilience' with WWF-Australia, I am building an inventory of species-specific conservation actions suited to agricultural contexts and testing which actions are viable and scalable under future climate and land-use scenarios. The aim is to produce tools that industry, government, and land managers can actually use, helping to make nature-positive agriculture a real and investable option, not just an aspiration.

I am also working on nature-related risk in agricultural supply chains, including collaborations extending to the Asia-Pacific region, and have contributed to Australia's Land Use Trade-Offs modelling with Climateworks Centre and CSIRO. 

Please feel free to look through my full publication list in the My Research Outputs tab or through my Grants below. 

I welcome enquiries from prospective Honours, Masters of Sustainability, and PhD students interested in conservation science, biodiversity policy, and sustainable food systems. Projects in the Conservation Crossroads Lab are grounded in real conservation challenges and developed in close collaboration with industry and government partners. For example:

• 🦘 Wildlife conservation actions in agricultural landscapes: How does nature support us, and how do agriculture and a changing climate put that at risk? Projects in this theme explore how species and ecosystems deliver services to people (such as pollination, water filtration, and pest control) and how climate change and land use are reshaping those relationships, particularly in farming landscapes. Pick a production system (eg, dairy, sheep, viticulture, canola) and a species of interest (e.g., birds, bats), then use ecological fieldwork or GIS mapping to assess the impact or benefit of a specific conservation action (such as nest boxes, perches, shelterbelts, or intercropping) in that landscape. Projects are directly connected to my ARC ECR Industry Fellowship work with WWF-Australia. 

       Potential approaches and skills: ecological fieldwork | GIS | R / Python | social science | ecological economics

• 🌳 Privately protected areas: What role do privately protected areas, conservation covenants, land trusts, and voluntary stewardship agreements play in protecting biodiversity? Projects can explore their spatial coverage and effectiveness, how they complement public reserves, or the legal and policy frameworks that govern them.

       Potential approaches and skills: ecological fieldwork | GIS | R / Python | social science | ecological economics

• ♻️ Biodiversity in supply chains: Every product we buy has a biodiversity footprint. Projects in this theme trace which species are affected by agricultural commodities, such as beef, cotton, or soy, and explore how impacts flow through food supply chains.

       Potential approaches and skills: big data | GIS | R / Python  |  Life cycle assessment 

• 🏛️ Conservation, Environmental and ESG policy: How well does conservation law and policy actually work? Projects explore the design and effectiveness of conservation legislation, covenant frameworks, and nature-related policy across jurisdictions, including analysis of frameworks like the Global Biodiversity Framework, Australia's Strategy for Nature, and corporate sustainability (EGS) or nature-related risk disclosures (TNFD). 

       Potential approaches and skills: policy reviewing | R / Python 

Interested? Get in touch at c.archibald@deakin.edu.au to discuss project ideas. I particularly encourage applications from students with backgrounds in ecology, geography, environmental science, or social science. I am committed to building an inclusive lab culture and particularly welcome enquiries from students from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM.