Rebecca Newman is an environmental researcher specialising in social–ecological relationships, with a particular focus on how resource use, livelihoods, and environmental change interact. Her work centres on developing and applying inclusive, participatory, and co-creative action research approaches that support meaningful community involvement in decision-making.

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Rebecca has extensive experience working in culturally diverse contexts, including long-term research in Zanzibar and Kenya. Her KM Stott Prize–winning PhD developed participatory land-use scenarios to support small-island resource security, grounded in deep community engagement and wide-ranging dissemination with local and policy audiences.

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She is currently a Research Fellow advancing this work in the UK, where she uses systems thinking and action research to explore transformative governance and regional food system change. Her research seeks to bridge theory and practice by co-designing governance approaches that enable collective action, address power and equity, and support systemic transformation across scales.

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Alongside her research, Rebecca has experience in teaching, facilitation, and mentorship across academic and practitioner settings, and is committed to research that is both intellectually rigorous and socially engaged