This award celebrates the high-quality and novel work done by Rose in her PhD, which aims to investigate the legal barriers and opportunities for seascape- scale coastal marine restoration. “Our current environmental legal frameworks are underpinned by an aim of protecting our existing ecosystems, usually in their existing locations. An unfortunate side effect of this is that it doesn’t necessarily support nor actively encourage restoration activities to address existing degradation and future climate change impacts, particularly at larger scales”, Rose says.

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Coastal marine challenges
As research into restoration in coastal marine ecosystems is still in its early stages, the specific legal challenges for coastal marine restoration are yet to be fully understood. Rose seeks to investigate this problem in her PhD to articulate:
- What are the legal barriers and opportunities for ecological restoration?
- How do these barriers and opportunities arise in the coastal marine environment for seascape-scale projects?
- How does this compare to the legal barriers and opportunities experienced in other legal systems, including the United Kingdom?
She tackles these points by examining two specific case studies in Moreton Bay and the Great Barrier Reef.

Image credit: Justine Bell-James
An impact on the ground
Winning the award recognises the incredible work that Rose has accomplished in her PhD, particularly her paper, “Legal barriers and enablers to upscaling ecological restoration”, published in Restoration Ecology (details below). “I am definitely surprised but of course also honoured. It was awarded to me for [my paper] published based on a chapter of my PhD earlier this year, so it was lovely to see that work recognised, given that it was my first first-authored publication”, Rose says. “There is a great cohort of PhD students at the Law School, and we all work on such different topics, so it was lovely to be recognised this time and to get a chance to shamelessly plug my work. The timing was also nice as I start my third year, giving me a little boost of motivation and support as I get down to writing.”
While Rose is kicking goals in her PhD and continues to fill research gaps in her field, she attributes her interest in this topic to several years of working as a research assistant at the UQ Law School and the Centre for Policy Futures, examining law and policy applicable to coastal marine ecosystems with a focus on ecosystem services and restoration. “Restoration proponents often experience difficulties navigating the existing legal system, so I thought it would be worthwhile doing a PhD to try to understand that challenge properly and hopefully identify what may need to change to address this problem”, Rose explains.
Rose looks to continue this important and valuable work as she gears up for thesis writing and travelling to the United Kingdom for research. “[This research field] is a great area to work in, as I’ve had the chance to meet so many people who are working on the ground (or in the water) on restoration projects and have taken the time out of their own work to share their experiences with me. I’ve enjoyed doing a PhD in an area where there is a bit of hope behind the research, and a clear chance to have an impact through the work.
Reference: Foster, R., and Bell-James, J. 2024. Legal barriers and enablers to upscaling ecological restoration. Restoration Ecology, 32(7), e14203.
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