Dr Anna (Anya) Phelan is a Lecturer within the Strategy and Entrepreneurship Discipline at the University of Queensland Business School. She teaches undergraduate and post-graduate courses in Social Entrepreneurship and Business Sustainability. Anya is also Entrepreneur in Residence with the CSIRO Plastics Innovation Hub.
Anya's ongoing research efforts are structured around the following streams: 1) circular economy and plastics 2) social entrepreneurship and small-scale enterprise development 3) decarbonisation and business sustainability
Dr Phelan's research portfolio includes working closely with stakeholders from government, industry, sustainability sector, not-for-profits, and community. She brings twenty-three years combined academic and industry experience in business development, technical consulting, and qualitative and quantitative research methods.
Previously, Dr Phelan was a Research Fellow at UQ Business School and the Academic Coordinator for the Global Change Scholars Program with the UQ Graduate School, where she worked with high-performing PhD students from across UQ on issues of global change and research leadership. In 2020 Anya led the Global Change Institute Flagship Project - Small Island Initiative for a Plastic Free Ocean - investigating factors contributing to ocean plastic pollution in Indonesia. Anya has designed and delivered research studies and was part of the Business Development team for the Capturing Coral Reef & Related Ecosystem Services (CCRES) project, focused on alternative sustainable livelihoods that protect and enhance coastal ecosystem services.
Presented on the Circular Economy and Ocean Plastics at the UQ – Pearson India: Change makers Academic Bootcamp; invited speaker for the International Symposium on Microplastics organised by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI); presented for the DFAT Business Model Practitioners Course organised by UQ International Development
Panellist and guest speaker for Deloitte business meetup
Panellist and guest speaker for Australia New Zealand Produce Manufacturers Association
Policy brief to Indonesian government through Indonesian Insitute of Science on Managing Plastic Pollution in Indonesia
Featured in the Tackling Ocean Pollution UQ Business School media release Jan 2019
Science presenter at the 2018 Woodford Folk Music Festival – Ocean plastic pollution and sustainable livelihoods
Keynote for the UQ Centre of Marine Science (CMS) Talkfest 2020.
Quoted in Boomerang Alliance media release - Plastic Pollution: why helping our pacific neighbours is important
Invited keynote – State University of Makassar - Universitas negeri Makassar
Phelan, Anna (2018) Ecosystem-based business development approach for coastal communities, Capturing Coral Reef and Related Ecosystem Services Project, www.ccres.net
Collaborative projects / grants:
ARC ITTCE Training Centre in Bioplastics and Biocomposites
Global Strategy and Partnerships Seed Funding Scheme - Collaborative workshop and seminar on Wetland Ecosystem Services and Law and Policy Frameworks
Member of the UQ Business School Business Sustainability Initiative (IRT) - The IRT has recently been awarded the QUEX initiator grant award in partnership with the Centre for Circular Economy at the University of Exeter
Awarded 2020 BEL Connect Grant
Book Chapter: Communities on Indonesian shorelines: ocean plastic through the eyes of local people
Phelan, Anna (Anya) and Setianto, Novie Andri (2022). Communities on Indonesian shorelines: ocean plastic through the eyes of local people. Rural development for sustainable social-ecological systems: Putting communities first. (pp. 54-68) edited by Claudia Baldwin and Severine van Bommel. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Book Chapter: Nature-based solutions: complementing ecotourism’s conservation, sustainability, and economic objectives
Phelan, Anna (Anya), Ruhanen, Lisa, Murphy, Jamie and Bowles, Leonie (2022). Nature-based solutions: complementing ecotourism’s conservation, sustainability, and economic objectives. Transitioning towards the future of tourism destinations: resilient, smart, and green development. (pp. 23-30) edited by Aurkene Alzua-Sorzabal, Paco Femenia-Serra and Zheng (Phil) Xiang. Madrid, Spain: Thomson Reuters-Aranzadi .
Book Chapter: Nature-based Solutions
Phelan, Anna and Ruhanen, Lisa (2022). Nature-based Solutions. Encyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing. (pp. xx-xx) edited by D. Buhalis. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Communities on Indonesian shorelines: ocean plastic through the eyes of local people
Phelan, Anna (Anya) and Setianto, Novie Andri (2022). Communities on Indonesian shorelines: ocean plastic through the eyes of local people. Rural development for sustainable social-ecological systems: Putting communities first. (pp. 54-68) edited by Claudia Baldwin and Severine van Bommel. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Phelan, Anna (Anya), Ruhanen, Lisa, Murphy, Jamie and Bowles, Leonie (2022). Nature-based solutions: complementing ecotourism’s conservation, sustainability, and economic objectives. Transitioning towards the future of tourism destinations: resilient, smart, and green development. (pp. 23-30) edited by Aurkene Alzua-Sorzabal, Paco Femenia-Serra and Zheng (Phil) Xiang. Madrid, Spain: Thomson Reuters-Aranzadi .
Phelan, Anna and Ruhanen, Lisa (2022). Nature-based Solutions. Encyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing. (pp. xx-xx) edited by D. Buhalis. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Prideaux, Bruce and Phelan, Anna (2022). The Circular Economy. Encyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing. (pp. 1-3) edited by D. Buhalis. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Towards sustainable and equitable solutions through responsible innovation and the circular economy
Phelan, Anna (2020). Towards sustainable and equitable solutions through responsible innovation and the circular economy. Ecological economics: solutions for the future. (pp. 328-340) edited by Hayden Washington. Online: Independently published through Kindle Direct Publishing.
Phelan, Anna, Ross, Helen, Dedi S. Adhuri and Richards, Russell (2022). Equity in a sea of debt: how better understanding of small-scale fisheries can help reel in sustainable seafood. ICES Journal of Marine Science. doi: 10.1093/icesjms/fsac020
Plastic pollution and packaging: corporate commitments and actions from the food and beverage sector
Phelan, Anna (Anya), Meissner, Katie, Humphrey, Jacquelyn and Ross, Helen (2022). Plastic pollution and packaging: corporate commitments and actions from the food and beverage sector. Journal of Cleaner Production, 331 129827, 1-19. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.129827
Introduction to the Special Issue on Ecosystem Services and Law
Bell-James, Justine, Lovelock, Catherine E. and Phelan, Anya (2020). Introduction to the Special Issue on Ecosystem Services and Law. University of Queensland Law Journal, 39 (3), 389-390.
Ocean plastic crisis—mental models of plastic pollution from remote Indonesian coastal communities
Phelan, Anna (Anya), Ross, Helen, Setianto, Novie Andri, Fielding, Kelly and Pradipta, Lengga (2020). Ocean plastic crisis—mental models of plastic pollution from remote Indonesian coastal communities. PLoS ONE, 15 (7) e0236149, e0236149. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236149
Phelan, Anna (Anya), Doody, Kathleen, Ward, Jack F. , Ng, Zheng Yen, Watson, Ebony, Fogg, Lily, Dutton-Regester, Kate, Vargas Soto, Rocio, Prada, Karla Ximena Vazquez, Yan, Hogmin, Wilson, Annaleise, Vanden Berg, Timothy, Arkhipov, Alexander, Bugeja, Jessica, Allen, Matthew and Hinkelmann, Stefan (2020). Leaving a place better than you found it; making a difference and restoring ecosystems on the Great Barrier Reef. Solutions Journal, 11 (2).
Phelan, Anna (Anya), Ruhanen, Lisa and Mair, Judith (2020). Ecosystem services approach for community-based ecotourism: towards an equitable and sustainable blue economy. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 28 (10), 1-21. doi: 10.1080/09669582.2020.1747475
Ross, Helen, Adhuri, Dedi S., Abdurrahim, Ali Yansyah and Phelan, Anna (2019). Opportunities in community-government cooperation to maintain marine ecosystem services in the Asia-Pacific and Oceania. Ecosystem Services, 38 100969, 100969. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2019.100969
Phelan, Anna (Anya), Dawes, Les, Costanza, Robert and Kubiszewski, Ida (2017). Evaluation of social externalities in regional communities affected by coal seam gas projects: a case study from Southeast Queensland. Ecological Economics, 131, 300-311. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.09.010
A new valuation school: integrating diverse values of nature in resource and land use decisions
Jacobs, Sander, Dendoncker, Nicholas, Martin-Lopez, Berta, Barton, David Nicholas, Gomez-Baggethun, Erik, Boeraeve, Fanny, McGrath, Francesca L., Vierikko, Kati, Geneletti, Davide, Sevecke, Katharina J., Pipart, Nathalie, Primmer, Eeva, Mederly, Peter, Schmidt, Stefan, Aragao, Alexandra, Baral, Himlal, Bark, Rosalind H., Briceno, Tania, Brogna, Delphine, Cabral, Pedro, De Vreese, Rik, Liquete, Camino, Mueller, Hannah, Peh, Kelvin S. -H., Phelan, Anna, Rincon, Alexander R., Rogers, Shannon H., Turkelboom, Francis, Van Reeth, Wouter ... Washbourn, Carla-Leanne (2016). A new valuation school: integrating diverse values of nature in resource and land use decisions. Ecosystem Services, 22 (B), 213-220. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2016.11.007
Facing the true cost of fracking; social externalities and the role of integrated valuation
Phelan, Anna (Anya) and Jacobs, Sander (2016). Facing the true cost of fracking; social externalities and the role of integrated valuation. Ecosystem Services, 22 (B), 348-358. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2016.11.006
Improving Societal Outcomes in Communities Affected by Large Resource Projects
Phelan, Anya, Bond, Carol J., Dawes, Les, Costanza, Robert and Kubiszewski, Ida (2019). Improving Societal Outcomes in Communities Affected by Large Resource Projects. 79th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Boston, MA United States, 9-13 August 2019. Briarcliff Manor, NY United States: Academy of Management. doi: 10.5465/ambpp.2019.11107abstract
Ecosystem-based business development approach for coastal communities
Phelan, Anya, Ruhanen, Lisa and Mair, Judith (2019). Ecosystem-based business development approach for coastal communities. CAUTHE 2019: Sustainability of Tourism, Hospitality & Events in a Disruptive Digital Age, Cairns, QLD Australia, 11-14 February 2019. Cairns, QLD Australia: CAUTHE.
Minimizing Social Externalities of Major Resource Projects: a Way Forward through Shared Value
Phelan, Anna, Dawes, Les, Costanza, Robert and Kubiszewski, Ida (2017). Minimizing Social Externalities of Major Resource Projects: a Way Forward through Shared Value. ANZSEE 2015 Conference, Thriving Through Transformation: Local to Global Sustainability, Armidale, NSW Australia, 19-23 October 2015. Armidale, NSW Australia: ANZSEE.
Navigating the social dimension of sustainability decision making of mega-projects
Phelan, Anya and Dawes, Les (2013). Navigating the social dimension of sustainability decision making of mega-projects. 19th International CIB World Building Congress, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 5-9 May 2013. Brisbane, QLD Australia: Queensland University of Technology.
Megaprojects, Affected communities and sustainability decision making
Phelan, Anya and Dawes, Les (2013). Megaprojects, Affected communities and sustainability decision making. Sustainable Engineering Society (SENG) 2013 conference: Looking back...looking forward, Canberra, ACT Australia, 18-20 September 2013. Barton, ACT Australia: Engineers Australia.
Circular economy and the water sector of South East Queensland
Wade, Belinda, Humphrey, Jacquelyn, Hopkinson, Peter, Hu, Shihu, Meath, Cristyn, Phelan, Anna and Turner, Cameron (2020). Circular economy and the water sector of South East Queensland. Brisbane, QLD Australia: UQ Business School, University of Queensland.
Phelan, Anna (Anya) (2015). Evaluation of social externalities of rapid economic development associated with major resource projects in regional communities. PhD Thesis, Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology.