
Murray Scown
Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Areas
Social-ecological systems, resilience, spatial analysis, rivers, land use, Sustainable Development Goals, scale, GIS
Current Research
My research asks how we can map, measure, model, and manage social-ecological systems to achieve the Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
My current research focus at LUCSUS is on agriculture in Europe and how it can contribute to achieving the SDGs. I use big data to evaluate trade-offs among environmental, social, and economic outcomes of agriculture throughout the EU, as well as spatial statistical models to determine how external drivers and management choices influence these outcomes. It is hoped that by quantifying the causal relationships between drivers, management choices, and outcomes, links to the EU's Common Agricultural Policy can be made and used to guide agriculture's contribution to the SDGs.
I am also currently involved in ongoing river systems research with colleagues from the USA and Australia. This research employs big data along with the concepts of social-ecological resilience and adaptive governance to gain insights into sustainable governance and management of rivers and fresh water resources as social-ecological systems.
Teaching
I currently teach the foundational natural science course in the LUMES program, Earth Systems Science, along with Kim Nicholas, as well as the Quantitative Methods Module in the LUMES thesis seminars. My teaching focuses on quantitative analyses and visualisation of social and ecological data to study Earth Systems. We encourage our students to utilise the vast amounts of publicly available data from around the world to answer their own research questions relating to Earth Systems and the SDGs.
Academic Background
I am a physical geographer with a strong background in the interdisciplinary study of social-ecological systems across a range of scales and through a complex systems lens. My research makes use of the power of Geographic Information Systems, ever evolving approaches to spatial analyses and mapping, and perspectives from the theories of hierarchy, complexity, and systems thinking.
I joined the team at LUCSUS as a post-doc in November, 2016, following an 18-month ORISE research position with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At the EPA I conducted hydrogeomorphic characterisation and spatial statistical modelling of nutrients in stream networks of the Ohio River Basin. I also developed an interest in viewing rivers as social-ecological systems, and began exploring the physical integrity of rivers and the well-being of local communities as interacting components of the same system.
I gained my PhD in Geography from the University of New England, Armidale, Australia, in 2015. I investigated the spatial complexity of floodplain landscapes in Australia, South Africa, and the USA using light detection and ranging (lidar) digital elevation models, and determined external controls on floodplain surface complexity across a range of spatial scales. I also hold an Honours degree in Geography from the University of New England and a Bachelor of Environmental Science from the University of Canberra, Australia.
I grew up in Canberra, Australia, and have lived in Norway, USA, and now Sweden. I have a very international perspective on life and research, and enjoy collaborating with colleagues from a range of disciplines and from around the world. Please contact me if you are interested in collaborating!
Publications
Displaying of publications. Sorted by year, then title.
A critical review of disproportionality in loss and damage from climate change
Kelly Dorkenoo, Murray Scown, Emily Boyd
(2022) Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change
Journal article reviewForgotten coast, forgotten people: sustainable development and disproportionate impacts from Hurricane Michael in Gulf County, Florida
Chad Boda, Murray Scown, Turaj Faran
(2022) Natural Hazards , p.877-899
Journal articleA harmonized country-level dataset to support the global stocktake regarding loss and damage from climate change
Murray W. Scown, Brian C. Chaffin, Annisa Triyanti, Emily Boyd
(2022) Geoscience Data Journal
Journal articleFraming Loss and Damage from climate change as the failure of Sustainable Development
Chad S. Boda, Murray Scown, Turaj Faran, Maryam Nastar, Kelly Dorkenoo, et al.
(2021) Climate and Development, 13 p.677-684
Journal articleA harmonized and spatially explicit dataset from 16 million payments from the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy for 2015
Kimberly A. Nicholas, Frida Villemoes, Edmund Aristid Lehsten, Mark V. Brady, Murray W. Scown
(2021) Patterns, 2
Journal articleLoss and damage from climate change and implicit assumptions of sustainable development
Chad Boda, Turaj Faran, Murray Scown, Kelly Dorkenoo, Brian C. Chaffin, et al.
(2021) Climatic Change, 164
Journal articleThe Sustainable Development Goals need geoscience
Murray W. Scown
(2020) Nature Geoscience, 13 p.714-715
Journal article (letter)European agricultural policy requires a stronger performance framework to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
Murray W. Scown, Kimberly A. Nicholas
(2020) Global Sustainability, 3
Journal articleBillions in Misspent EU Agricultural Subsidies Could Support the Sustainable Development Goals
Murray W. Scown, Mark V. Brady, Kimberly A. Nicholas
(2020) One Earth, 3 p.237-250
Journal articleAligning research with policy and practice for sustainable agricultural land systems in Europe
Murray W. Scown, Klara J. Winkler, Kimberly A. Nicholas
(2019) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116 p.4911-4916
Journal articleA classification to align social-ecological land systems research with policy in Europe
Klara J. Winkler, Murray W. Scown, Kimberly A. Nicholas
(2018) Land Use Policy, 79 p.137-145
Journal articleCharacterization of River Networks : A GIS Approach and Its Applications
Martin Thoms, Murray Scown, Joseph Flotemersch
(2018) Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 54 p.899-913
Journal articleSocial-ecological resilience and geomorphic systems
Brian C. Chaffin, Murray Scown
(2018) Geomorphology, 305 p.221-230
Journal article reviewImproving Predictive Models of In-Stream Phosphorus Concentration Based on Nationally-Available Spatial Data Coverages
Murray Scown, Michael McManus, John Carson, Christopher Nietch
(2017) Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 53 p.944-960
Journal articlePeople and water: Exploring the social-ecological condition of watersheds of the United States
Murray Scown, Joseph Flotemersch, Trisha Spanbauer, Tarsha Eason, Ahjond Garmestani, et al.
(2017) Elementa, 5
Journal articleAn index of floodplain surface complexity
M. W. Scown, M. C. Thoms, N. R. De Jager
(2016) Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 20 p.431-441
Journal articleMeasuring spatial patterns in floodplains : A step towards understanding the complexity of floodplain ecosystems
Murray Scown, Martin C. Thoms, Nathan R. De Jager
(2016) River Science : Research and Management for the 21st Century , p.103-131
Book chapterMeasuring floodplain spatial patterns using continuous surface metrics at multiple scales
Murray W. Scown, Martin C. Thoms, Nathan R. De Jager
(2015) Geomorphology, 245 p.87-101
Journal articleFloodplain complexity and surface metrics : Influences of scale and geomorphology
Murray W. Scown, Martin C. Thoms, Nathan R. De Jager
(2015) Geomorphology, 245 p.102-116
Journal articleThe ecohydrology of stream networks
Celeste Harris, Martin C. Thoms, Murray Scown
(2009) IAHS-AISH publication, 328 p.127-136
Conference paper
Bio
Murray Scown is a geographer with a passion for spatial analyses of complex social-ecological systems. His research utilises big data and GIS to map, measure, and model land use and river systems across a range of scales from local to continental. His research currently focuses on the role that agriculture will play in achieving the SDGs and, in particular, how to quantify trade-offs among potentially competing environmental, social, and economic goals in agriculture. He is also involved in ongoing research with collaborators in the US and Australia exploring social-ecological resilience in rivers and other geomorphic systems that are potentially threatened by climate change.