Elaine C. Mumford (pronouns: they/them) is a PhD researcher with the WUR Environmental Policy Group (ENP). They are are part of the OR ELSE (Operational Recommendations for Ecosystem-based Large-scale Sand Extraction) project in the Dutch North Sea. Their research focuses on how stakeholders -- including government actors, sand extraction companies, wind power developers, the fishing industry, local communities, and environmental NGOs (as representatives of the ecosystem) -- understand and relate to the Dutch North Sea both spatially and temporally, how these different ontologies contribute to governance and decision-making on marine spatial planning, and how the variance in perception contributes to conflict among stakeholders.
Elaine holds an MSc in Sustainable Development from the Centre for Environment and Development Studies, jointly administered by Uppsala University and the Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences (SLU), as well as a BA in International Studies (with a focus on environmental policy) from the American University School of International Service. Between their undergraduate and graduate studies, they worked as an English teacher in Kyrgyzstan and a Communications intern and then officer at the IUCN Asia Regional Office in Bangkok, Thailand.
They are interested in the governance of natural resources and landscapes, the power dynamics between human and non-human actors within social-ecological systems, complexity of social-ecological systems, and the most effective ways for interventions and governance to holistically and equitably ensure human and non-human wellbeing across generations.