I am a human geographer and interdisciplinary governance researcher currently working on environmental governance (in the fields of water governance/flood risk management, agri-food systems, and forest carbon). I hold a PhD in Geography from Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand), where I also obtained my MA (Geography) and BSc Honours (Geography/Environmental Studies).

As Senior Research Associate on the ERC-funded EDGE Project, at the Research Group Governance, Participation & Sustainability, my research is particularly concerned with the opportunities and pitfalls associated with participatory and collaborative environmental governance. In the context of EDGE, I am focused mainly on public and stakeholder participation in water resources management and flood risk management under the European Water Framework Directive and the EU Floods Directive respectively. This is examined via comparative case studies of river basin management planning and flood risk management planning in Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.

As Adjunct Research Associate with the School of Geography and Earth Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington (2012-2015) I was Associate Investigator on the New Zealand Government / Marsden funded project ‘REDD+ and the new political ecology of forest protection in Indonesia’. This work focused on the political ecology of forest carbon projects, and the complex role(s) of non-state governing actors and hybrid modes of governance (including REDD+ finance and private forest carbon standards) in shaping Indonesia’s nascent REDD+ sector. This research examined emergent forest carbon commodity chains and networks as manifestations of market environmentalism.

Ongoing research and teaching interests beyond these projects include the governance of global agri-food chains and globally telecoupled systems (see GOVERNECT, our new DFG project on telecoupling), voluntary private sustainability standards, and rural environmental governance in New Zealand (especially in relation to irrigation, agriculture and freshwater governance).

Selected recent publications:

Kochskämper, E., Challies, E., Jager, N.W. & Newig, J. (2016). Participation for effective environmental governance? Evidence from Water Framework Directive implementation in Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, Journal of Environmental Management, 181(1), 737-748.

Lenschow, A., Newig, J. & Challies, E. (2015). Globalization’s limits to the environmental state? Integrating telecoupling into global environmental governance, Environmental Politics, 25(1), 136-159.

Drazkiewicz, A., Challies, E. & Newig, J. (2015). Public participation and local environmental planning: Testing factors influencing decision quality and implementation in four case studies from Germany, Land Use Policy, 46, 211-222.

McGregor, A., Challies, E., Howson, P., Astuti, R., Dixon, R., Haalboom, B., Gavin, M., Tacconi, L. & Afiff, S. (2014). Beyond Carbon, More than Forest? REDD+ governmentality in Indonesia, Environment and Planning A, 47(1), 138-155.

Challies, E., Newig, J. & Lenschow, A. (2014). What role for social-ecological systems research in governing global teleconnections?, Global Environmental Change, 27, 32-40.

Download manuscripts at my ResearchGate page.

See my web page at Leuphana University of Lüneburg.

Publications

2022

Cotta, B., Coenen, J., Challies, E., Newig, J., Lenschow, A., & Schilling-Vacaflor, A. (2022). Environmental governance in globally telecoupled systems: Mapping the terrain towards an integrated research agenda. Earth System Governance, 13, 100142 [free open access content].

Jager, N. W., Newig, J., Challies, E., Kochskämper, E., & von Wehrden, H. (2022). Case study meta-analysis in the social sciences. Insights on data quality and reliability from a large-N case survey. Research Synthesis Methods, 13(1), 12-27 [free open access content].

Rouillard, J., Babbitt, C., Challies, E. & Rinaudo, J. (2022). Water Resources Allocation and Agriculture. IWA Publishing [free open access content].

2021

Jager, N. W., Newig, J., Challies, E., & Kochskämper, E. (2021). Corrigendum to: Pathways to Implementation: Evidence on How Participation in Environmental Governance Impacts on Environmental Outcomes. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 31(3), 616 [free open access content].

Schilling-Vacaflor, A., Lenschow, A., Challies, E., Cotta, B., & Newig, J. (2021). Contextualizing certification and auditing: Soy certification and access of local communities to land and water in Brazil. World Development, 140, 105281.

Coenen, J., Bager, S., Meyfroidt, P., Newig, J., & Challies, E. (2021). Environmental Governance of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Environmental Policy and Governance, 31(1), 3-17 [free open access content].

2020

Newig, J., Challies, E., Cotta, B., Lenschow, A., & Schilling-Vacaflor, A. (2020). Governing global telecoupling toward environmental sustainability. Ecology and Society, 25(4), 19 [Free Open Access Content].

Jager, N. W., Newig, J., Challies, E., & Kochskämper, E. (2020). Pathways to Implementation: Evidence on How Participation in Environmental Governance Impacts on Environmental Outcomes. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 30(3), 383-399 [Free Open Access Content.

2019

Newig, J., Challies, E., & Jager, N. W. (2019). Democratic innovation and environmental governance. In S. Elstub & O. Escobar (Eds.), Handbook of Democratic Innovation and Governance (pp. 324-338). Cheltenham, UK & Northhampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Newig, J., Lenschow, A., Challies, E., Cotta, B., & Schilling-Vacaflor, A. (2019). What is governance in global telecoupling? Ecology and Society, 24(3), 26 [Free Open Access Content].

Newig, J., Jager, N. W., Kochskämper, E., & Challies, E. (2019). Learning in participatory environmental governance – its antecedents and effects. Findings from a case survey meta-analysis. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 21(3), 213-227 [Free Open Access Content].

Challies, E., Newig, J., & Lenschow, A. (2019). Governance for Sustainability in Telecoupled Systems. In C. Friis & J. Ø. Nielsen (Eds.), Telecoupling. Exploring Land-Use Change in a Globalised World (pp. 177-197). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

McGregor, A., Challies, E., Thomas, A., Astuti, R., Howson, P., Afiff, S., . . . Bond, S. (2019). Sociocarbon cycles: Assembling and governing forest carbon in Indonesia. Geoforum, 99, 32-41.

2018

Newig, J., Challies, E., Jager, N. W., Kochskämper, E., & Adzersen, A. (2018). The Environmental Performance of Participatory and Collaborative Governance: A Framework of Causal Mechanisms. Policy Studies Journal, 46(2), 269-297 [Free Open Access Content].

Liu, J., Dou, Y., Batistella, M., Challies, E., Connor, T., Friis, C., Millington, J. D. A., Parish, E., Romulo, C. L., Silva, R. F. B., Triezenberg, H., Yang, H., Zhao, Z., Zimmerer, K. S., Huettmann, F., Treglia, M. L., Basher, Z., Chung, M. G., Herzberger, A., Lenschow, A., Mechiche-Alami, A., Newig, J., Roche, R., & Sun, J. (2018). Spillover systems in a telecoupled Anthropocene: typology, methods, and governance for global sustainability. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 33, 58-69.

Reed, M. S., Vella, S., Challies, E., de Vente, J., Frewer, L., Hohenwallner-Ries, D., Huber, T., Neumann, R. K., Oughton, E.A., Sidoli del Ceno, J., & van Delden, H. (2018). A theory of participation: what makes stakeholder and public engagement in environmental management work? Restoration Ecology, 26(S1), S7-S17.

Lührs, N., Jager, N. W., Challies, E., & Newig, J. (2018). How Participatory Should Environmental Governance Be? Testing the Applicability of the Vroom-Yetton-Jago Model in Public Environmental Decision-Making. Environmental Management, 61(2), 249-262.

Kochskämper, E., Challies, E., Jager, N. W., & Newig, J. (2018). Participation for Effective Environmental Governance: Evidence from European Water Framework Directive Implementation. Oxon [u.a.]: Routledge.

Newig, J., Kochskämper, E., Challies, E., & Jager, N. W. (2018). Researching participation in environmental governance through the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive. In E. Kochskämper, E. Challies, N. W. Jager, & J. Newig (Eds.), Participation for Effective Environmental Governance: Evidence from European Water Framework Directive Implementation (pp. 3-10). Oxon [u.a.]: Routledge.

Newig, J., Challies, E., Jager, N. W., & Kochskämper, E. (2018). Concepts: How participation leads to effective environmental governance. In E. Kochskämper, E. Challies, N. W. Jager, & J. Newig (Eds.), Participation for Effective Environmental Governance: Evidence from European Water Framework Directive Implementation (pp. 11-27). Oxon [u.a.]: Routledge.

Jager, N. W., Kochskämper, E., Challies, E., & Newig, J. (2018). Paired case research design and mixed-methods approach. In E. Kochskämper, E. Challies, N. W. Jager, & J. Newig (Eds.), Participation for Effective Environmental Governance: Evidence from European Water Framework Directive Implementation (pp. 28-36). Oxon [u.a.]: Routledge.

Challies, E. (2018). Stakeholder engagement in Water Framework Directive planning in the United Kingdom: Two case studies from Northern Ireland and Scotland. In E. Kochskämper, E. Challies, N. W. Jager, & J. Newig (Eds.), Participation for Effective Environmental Governance: Evidence from European Water Framework Directive Implementation (pp. 90-113). Oxon [u.a.]: Routledge.

Kochskämper, E., Jager, N. W., Newig, J., & Challies, E. (2018). Impact of participation on sustainable water management planning: Comparative analysis of eight cases. In E. Kochskämper, E. Challies, N. W. Jager, & J. Newig (Eds.), Participation for Effective Environmental Governance: Evidence from European Water Framework Directive Implementation (pp. 117-148). Oxon [u.a.]: Routledge.

Kochskämper, E., Jager, N. W., Newig, J., & Challies, E. (2018). Participation and Effective Environmental Governance: Causal mechanisms, and beyond. In E. Kochskämper, E. Challies, N. W. Jager, & J. Newig (Eds.), Participation for Effective Environmental Governance: Evidence from European Water Framework Directive Implementation (pp. 149-159). Oxon [u.a.]: Routledge.

2017

Challies, E., Newig, J., Kochskämper, E., & Jager, N. W. (2017). Governance change and governance learning in Europe: stakeholder participation in environmental policy implementation. Policy and Society, 36(2), 288-303 [Free Open Access Content].

2016

Kochskämper, E., Challies, E., Newig, J., & Jager, N. W. (2016). Participation for effective environmental governance? Evidence from Water Framework Directive implementation in Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. Journal of Environmental Management, 181: 737-748.

Jager, N. W., Challies, E., Kochskämper, E., Newig, J., Benson, D. Blackstock, K., Collins, K., Ernst, A., Evers, M., Feichtinger, J., Fritsch, O., Gooch, G., Grund, W., Hedelin, B., Hernández-Mora, N., Hüesker, F., Huitema, D., Irvine, K., Klinke, A., Lange, L., Loupsans, D., Lubell, M., Maganda, C., Matczak, P., Parés, M., Saarikoski, H., Slavíková, L., van der Arend, S. & von Korff, Y. (2016). Transforming European Water Governance? Participation and River Basin Management under the EU Water Framework Directive in 13 Member States. Water, 8 (156).

Newig, J., Kochskämper, E., Challies, E., & Jager, N. W. (2016). Exploring governance learning: How policymakers draw on evidence, experience and intuition in designing participatory flood risk planning. Environmental Science & Policy, 55, 353-360 [Free Open Access Content].

Lenschow, A., Newig, J., & Challies, E. (2016). Globalization’s limits to the environmental state? Integrating telecoupling into global environmental governance. Environmental Politics, 25(1), 136-159 [Free Open Access Content].

Challies, E. , Newig, J., Thaler, T., Kochskämper, E., & Levin-Keitel, M. (2016). Participatory and collaborative governance for sustainable flood risk management: An emerging research agenda. Environmental Science & Policy, 55(2), 275-280.

2015

Dixon, R., & Challies, E. (2015). Making REDD+ pay: Shifting rationales and tactics of private finance and the governance of avoided deforestation in Indonesia’. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 56(1), 6-20.

Drazkiewicz, A., Challies, E., & Newig, J. (2015). Public participation and local environmental planning: Testing factors influencing decision quality and implementation in four case studies from Germany. Land Use Policy 46, 211-222.

McGregor, A., Challies, E., Howson, P., Astuti, R., Dixon, R., Haalboom, B., Gavin, M., Tacconi, L., Afiff, S. (2015). Beyond carbon, more than forest? REDD+ governmentality in Indonesia. Environment and Planning A, 47(1), 138-155.

2014

Challies, E. (2014). Reining in rascal geographies of neoliberalism in the periphery? Dialogues in Human Geography 4(2), 131-136 [Free Open Access Content].

McGregor, A., Weaver, S., Challies, E., Howson, P., Astuti, R., & Haalboom, B. (2014). Practical critique: Bridging the gap between critical and practice-oriented REDD+ research communities. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 55(3), 277-291.

Newig, J., Challies, E., Jager, N. W., & Kochskämper, E. (2014). What Role for Public Participation in Implementing the EU Floods Directive? A comparison with the Water Framework Directive, early evidence from Germany, and a research agenda. Environmental Policy and Governance, 24(4), 275–288.

Newig, J., Challies, E., Jager, N. W., & Kochskämper, E. (2014). Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung und EU Hochwasserrisikomanagement-Richtlinie. Hydrologie und Wasserbewirtschaftung, 58(6), 339-340.

Newig, J., & Challies, E. (2014). Water, Rivers and Wetlands. in P. Harris (Hrsg.), Routledge Handbook of global Environmental Politics, 439-452. [34] (Routledge Handbooks). London & New York: Routledge.

Challies, E., Newig, J., & Lenschow, A. (2014). What role for social-ecological systems research in governing global teleconnections?. Global Environmental Change : Human and Policy Dimensions, 27, 32-40.

2013

Newig, J., Adzersen, A., Challies, E., Fritsch, O., & Jager, N. W. (2013). Comparative analysis of public environmental decision-making processes: A variable-based analytical scheme. 65 S. (INFU Discussion Paper; Nr. 37). Lüneburg: Institut für Umweltkommunikation der Universität Lüneburg.

McGregor, A., Challies, E., Overton, J., & Sentes, L. (2013). Developmentalities and Donor-NGO Relations: Contesting Foreign Aid Policies in New Zealand/Aotearoa. Antipode, 45(5), 1232-1253.

Challies, E. (2013). The Limits to Voluntary Private Social Standards in Global Agri-food System Governance. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 20(2), 175-195.

2012

Newig, J., Jager, N. W., & Challies, E. (2012). Führt Bürgerbeteiligung in umweltpolitischen Entscheidungsprozessen zu mehr Effektivität und Legitimität?. Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, 22(4), 527-564.

2011

Challies, E., McGregor, A., & Sentes, L. (2011). The Changing Landscape of International Development in Aotearoa/New Zealand. 23 S. (NZADDs Working Paper Series; Band 2011, Nr. 3). New Zealand Aid and Development Dialogues (NZADDs).

Challies, E. R. T., & Murray, W. E. (2011). The Interaction of Global Value Chains and Rural Livelihoods: The case of smallholder raspberry growers in Chile. Journal of Agrarian Change, 11(1), 29-59.

2010

Murray, W., & Challies, E. (2010). The TPPA, Agribusiness and Rural Livelihoods. in J. Kelsey (Hrsg.), No Ordinary Deal: Unmasking the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement. Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, pp. 109-123.

2008

Challies, E. R. T. (2008). Commodity Chains, Rural Development and the Global Agri-food System. Geography Compass, 2(2), 375-394.

Challies, E. R. T., & Murray, W. E. (2008). Towards Post-Neoliberalism? The comparative politico-economic transition of New Zealand and Chile. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 49(2), 228-243.

2006

Challies, E. R. T., & Murray, W. E. (2006). Productive Transformations and Bilateralism in the Semi-Periphery: A comparative political economy of the dairy complexes of New Zealand and Chile. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 47(3), 351-365.

2004

Murray, W. E., & Challies, E. R. T. (2004). New Zealand and Chile: Partnership for the Pacific century?. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 58(1), 89-103.