The overarching research question that guides my work is: What is the power of policy narratives in shaping governmental and individual decisions? In the context of flood hazard preparation (NSF CMMI-1635885), risk communication about pathogen spillover (NSF DEB-1716698), and human-wildlife conflict (NSF DRMS-1914601), I use the Narrative Policy Framework to investigate the power of specific mechanisms of narratives in communications about and in perceptions of risk. Most of my work is interdisciplinary, with a focus on the dynamics within the human system as well as the effects of feedbacks from and to the ecological system.
PHOTOS: The Yellowstone River frozen over at Laurel, Montana; evening bat fly-out near suburban area in Queensland, Australia; Shanahan standing near ice that can create ice jam flooding in eastern Montana; a bat flies near recent construction in Cairns, Australia; concrete stored to prevent bank erosion and flooding; spectacled flying fox (Pteropus conspicillatus) at bat carer’s in Queensland, Australia; horse in eucalyptus forest, where bats forage during winter flowering, in Queensland, Australia.