Associate Professor Severine van Bommel
Associate Professor in Rural Dev. & Agriculture
School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability
+61 7 54601 105
Researcher biography
Bio: Dr. Severine van Bommel is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland's School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability. With a keen interest in rural development and agricultural extension, her research focuses on understanding the role of experts and expertise in orchestrating effective governance performances for systemic transformation of natural resource dilemmas and competing claims. Through an interpretive lens, her research aims to support experts in communicating and collaborating with farmers and communities in situations of social learning, multi-stakeholder partnerships, farmer field schools, community-based NRM or co-inquiry and co-design.
Research Interests:
- Rural development
- Agricultural extension
- Sustainable development
- Indigenous engagement
- Environmental credentials verification
Current Projects:
- the co-design of a virtual platform for verifying environmental credentials for Australian beef producers - developing indigenous engagement methods (storian) for Australian researchers working with Ni-Vanuatu livestock farmers - making visible and challenging gender norms in transdisciplinary research and development practice - facilitating more-than-human participatory research and practice
Publications: Dr. van Bommel has contributed to significant works in her field, including:
- "Rural Development for Sustainable Social-Ecological Systems: Putting Communities First" (Palgrave)
- "Forest and Nature Governance: A Practice-Based Approach" (Springer)
- "Forest-People Interfaces" (Wageningen Academic Publishers)
Her research contributions have been published in prestigious journals and presented at international conferences such as IPA, MOPAN, IFSA, and APEN.
Teaching: In addition to her research, Dr. van Bommel teaches courses on:
- Leadership in rural industries (MSc)
- Effective stakeholder engagement (MSc)
- Human-wildlife interactions (MSc and BSc)
Mentorship and Community Engagement: Dr. van Bommel is dedicated to mentoring early career researchers interested in interpretive methods within the APSA mentoring program. She also runs an International Virtual Community of Practice for Interpretive Practitioners, fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange in the field.
Book Chapters
van Bommel, Séverine, Coutts, Jeff, James, John and Nettle, Ruth (2023). Trends in extension in Australia. Rural development for sustainable social-ecological systems. (pp. 45-75) edited by Claudia Baldwin and Séverine van Bommel. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-34225-7_4
van Bommel, Séverine, Baldwin, Claudia, Brown, Katrina, Cavaye, Jim and Ross, Helen (2023). Realising just and sustainable social-ecological systems. Rural development for sustainable social-ecological systems: putting communities first. (pp. 487-502) edited by Claudia Baldwin and Séverine van Bommel. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan Cham. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-34225-7_23
van Bommel, Séverine and Baldwin, Claudia (2023). State of the art, trends and progress in work on the social aspects of social-ecological systems in research and practice. Rural development for sustainable social-ecological systems: putting communities first. (pp. 1-16) edited by Claudia Baldwin and Séverine van Bommel. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan Cham. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-34225-7_1
Boonman-Berson, Susan and van Bommel, Séverine (2023). How to do multispecies-ethnographies when exploring human-(wild) animal interactions. Methods in Human-Animal Studies. (pp. 133-153) London: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781351018623-9
Van Bommel, Severine, Van Hulst, Merlijn and Yanow, Dvora (2014). Interpretive policy analysis in the Netherlands. Policy analysis in the Netherlands. (pp. 69-86) edited by Frans van Nispen and Peter Scholten. Bristol, United Kingdom: Policy Press.
Behagel, Jelle, Arts, Bas, van Bommel, Severine, de Koning, Jessica and Turnhout, Esther (2013). The promise of practice: The value of the practice based approach for forest and nature governance studies. Forest and Nature Governance: A Practice based Approach. (pp. 243-255) edited by Bas Arts, Jelle Behagel, Séverine van Bommel, Jessica de Koning and Esther Turnhout. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-5113-2_12
Arts, Bas, Behagel, Jelle, van Bommel, Severine, de Koning, Jessica and Turnhout, Esther (2013). Prelude to practice: Introducing a practice based approach to forest and nature governance. Forest and Nature Governance: A Practice based Approach. (pp. 3-21) edited by Bas Arts, Jelle Behagel, Séverine van Bommel, Jessica de Koning and Esther Turnhout. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-5113-2_1
van Bommel, Severine and van der Zouwen, Marielle (2013). Creating scientific narratives: Experiences in constructing and interweaving empirical and theoretical plots. Forest and Nature Governance: A Practice based Approach. (pp. 217-239) edited by Bas Arts, Jelle Behagel, Séverine van Bommel, Jessica de Koning and Esther Turnhout. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-5113-2_11
Arts, Bas, Van Bommel, Severine, Ros-Tonen, Mirjam and Verschoor, Gerard (2012). Forest-people interfaces: from local creativity to global concerns. Forest-people interfaces: understanding community forestry and biocultural diversity. (pp. 15-26) edited by Bas Arts, Séverine van Bommel, Mirjam Ros-Tonen and Gerard Verschoor. Wageningen, The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers. doi: 10.3920/978-90-8686-749-3_1
Van Bommel, Severine and Turnhout, Esther (2012). The (onto)politics of classifying biocultural diversity: a tale of chaos, order and control. Forest-people interfaces: understanding community forestry and biocultural diversity. (pp. 223-238) edited by Bas Arts, Séverine van Bommel, Mirjam Ros-Tonen and Gerard Verschoor. Wageningen, The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers. doi: 10.3920/978-90-8686-749-3_14
van Bommel, Severine, Aarts, Noelle, Turnhout, Esther and Roling, Niels (2011). Governance and contested land use in the Netherlands. Territorial Governance. (pp. 123-139) edited by André Torre and Jean-Baptiste Traversac. Heidelberg, Germany: Physica-Verlag HD. doi: 10.1007/978-3-7908-2422-3_7
Journal Articles
van Hulst, Merlijn, Metze, Tamara, Dewulf, Art, de Vries, Jasper, van Bommel, Severine and van Ostaijen, Mark (2025). Discourse, framing and narrative: three ways of doing critical, interpretive policy analysis. Critical Policy Studies, 19 (1), 74-96. doi: 10.1080/19460171.2024.2326936
van Bommel, Severine (2025). Embracing collaborative research in political science in Australia and beyond. Australian Journal of Political Science, ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print), 1-14. doi: 10.1080/10361146.2025.2454561
van Bommel, Severine (2024). Critical policy studies in dialogue with multispecies perspectives: should it become a more-than-human endeavor?. Critical Policy Studies, 18 (4), 713-725. doi: 10.1080/19460171.2024.2430396
Sarwar, Salman, Ross, Helen, van Bommel, Séverine, Polack, Sharelle, Waschka, Marie, Lubcke, Katelyn, Bryceson, Kim, Cooper, Tarni L., Butler, Don W. and Macintosh, Andrew (2023). Developing a new technology for demonstrating environmental sustainability in the Australian grassfed beef industry. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7 1241077, 1-16. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2023.1241077
Garnier, Marie, van Wessel, Margit, Tamás, Peter A. and van Bommel, Severine (2022). Chickens, Inc.: Was UK newspapers’ framing of the chicken meat production industry compatible with holding corporate power to account?. Journalism Studies, 24 (1), 66-87. doi: 10.1080/1461670x.2022.2143865
Chepkwony, Richard, van Bommel, Severine and van Langevelde, Frank (2022). Spatial biopolitics of tick-borne disease control practices in Laikipia, Kenya. Society and Natural Resources, 35 (12), 1-18. doi: 10.1080/08941920.2022.2107748
Van Bommel, Severine and Boonman-Berson, Susan (2022). Transforming convivial conservation: towards more-than-human participation in research. Conservation and Society, 20 (2), 136-145. doi: 10.4103/cs.cs_29_21
Jones, Natalie A., Bellamy, Jennifer, Bellotti, William, Ross, Helen, van Bommel, Severine and Liu, Yiyu (2022). A shock to the system: what the COVID-19 pandemic reveals about Australia's food systems and their resilience. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 5 790694, 1-18. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2021.790694
Cook, William, Turnhout, Esther and van Bommel, Séverine (2021). Performing an FSC audit. Journal of Organizational Ethnography, 10 (3), 274-288. doi: 10.1108/joe-10-2020-0039
Chepkwony, Richard, van Bommel, Severine and van Langevelde, Frank (2021). Interactive effects of biological, human and environmental factors on tick loads in Boran cattle in tropical drylands. Parasites and Vectors, 14 (1) 188, 1-8. doi: 10.1186/s13071-021-04683-9
Acosta, Mariola, van Wessel, Margit, van Bommel, Severine and Feindt, Peter H. (2021). Examining the promise of ‘the local’ for improving gender equality in agriculture and climate change adaptation. Third World Quarterly, 42 (6), 1-22. doi: 10.1080/01436597.2021.1882845
Reverter, Antonio, Martinez, Cristina, Currey, Phil, van Bommel, Severine and Hudson, Nicholas J. (2020). Unravelling student evaluations of courses and teachers. Cogent Education, 7 (1) 1771830, 1771830. doi: 10.1080/2331186X.2020.1771830
Garnier, Marie, Tamás, Peter A., van Wessel, Margit and van Bommel, Severine (2020). Something wicked this way comes: how well did UK newspapers support the public debate of Avian Influenza as a wicked problem?. Journalism, 23 (9), 2012-2035. doi: 10.1177/1464884920977781
Chepkwony, Richard, Castagna, Carolina, Heitkönig, Ignas, Van Bommel, Severine and Van Langevelde, Frank (2020). Associations between monthly rainfall and mortality in cattle due to East Coast fever, anaplasmosis and babesiosis. Parasitology, 147 (14), 1-9. doi: 10.1017/S0031182020001638
Cook, William Clark, Turnhout, Esther and van Bommel, Severine (2020). Learning to Become an FSC Auditor: Objectivity, Interpretation, and Mastery. Science and Technology Studies, 33 (2), 32-48. doi: 10.23987/sts.60766
Garnier, Marie, van Wessel, Margit, Tamás, Peter A. and van Bommel, Severine (2019). The chick diffusion: how newspapers fail to meet normative expectations regarding their democratic role in public debate. Journalism Studies, 21 (5), 1-23. doi: 10.1080/1461670x.2019.1707705
Chaves, Paola, Aarts, Noelle and van Bommel, Severine (2019). Self-organization for everyday peacebuilding: the Guardia Indigena from Northern Cauca, Colombia. Security Dialogue, 51 (1), 096701061988947-59. doi: 10.1177/0967010619889471
Acosta, Mariola, van Wessel, Margit, van Bommel, Severine, Ampaire, Edidah L., Jassogne, Laurence and Feindt, Peter H. (2019). The power of narratives: Explaining inaction on gender mainstreaming in Uganda's climate change policy. Development Policy Review, 38 (5) dpr.12458, 555-574. doi: 10.1111/dpr.12458
Chaves, Paola, Aarts, Noelle and van Bommel, Severine (2019). Reconstructing collective identity for peacebuilding: the indigenous guard in Northern Cauca - Colombia. Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, 27 (4), 463-485. doi: 10.1080/13569325.2019.1574728
Acosta, Mariola, van Bommel, Severine, van Wessel, Margit, Ampaire, Edidah L., Jassogne, Laurence and Feindt, Peter H. (2019). Discursive translations of gender mainstreaming norms: The case of agricultural and climate change policies in Uganda. Women's Studies International Forum, 74, 9-19. doi: 10.1016/j.wsif.2019.02.010
Acosta, Mariola, van Wessel, Margit , Van Bommel, Severine, Ampaire, Edidah L., Twyman, Jennifer, Jassogne, Laurence and Feindt, Peter H. (2019). What does it Mean to Make a ‘Joint’ Decision? Unpacking Intra-household Decision Making in Agriculture: Implications for Policy and Practice. Journal of Development Studies, 56 (6), 1-20. doi: 10.1080/00220388.2019.1650169
de Vries, Jasper R., van Bommel, Séverine and Peters, Karin (2018). Trust at a distance-trust in online communication in environmental and global health research projects. Sustainability (Switzerland), 10 (11) 4005, 4005. doi: 10.3390/su10114005
Chepkwony, Richard, van Bommel, Severine and van Langevelde, Frank (2018). Citizen science for development: potential role of mobile phones in information sharing on ticks and tick-borne diseases in Laikipia, Kenya. NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences, 86-87 (1), 123-135. doi: 10.1016/j.njas.2018.07.007
De Vries, Jasper R., Van Bommel, Séverine, Blackmore, Chris and Asano, Yoshiko (2017). Where there is no history: how to create trust and connection in learning for transformation in water governance. Water, 9 (2) 130, 130. doi: 10.3390/w9020130
van Bommel, Séverine, Blackmore, Chris, Foster, Natalie and de Vries, Jasper (2016). Performing and orchestrating governance learning for systemic transformation in practice for climate change adaptation. Outlook on Agriculture, 45 (4), 231-237. doi: 10.1177/0030727016675692
Sherwood, Stephen, van Bommel, Severine and Paredes, Myriam (2016). Self-organization and the bypass: re-imagining institutions for more sustainable development in agriculture and food. Agriculture, 6 (4) 66, 66. doi: 10.3390/agriculture6040066
Blackmore, Chris, van Bommel, Severine, de Bruin, Annemarieke, de Vries, Jasper, Westberg, Lotten, Powell, Neil, Foster, Natalie, Collins, Kevin, Roggero, Pier Paolo and Seddaiu, Giovanna (2016). Learning for transformation of water governance: reflections on design from the climate change adaptation and water governance (CADWAGO) project. Water, 8 (11) 510, 510. doi: 10.3390/w8110510
Cook, William, van Bommel, Séverine and Turnhout, Esther (2016). Inside environmental auditing: effectiveness, objectivity, and transparency. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 18, 33-39. doi: 10.1016/j.cosust.2015.07.016
Arts, Bas, Behagel, Jelle, Turnhout, Esther, de Koning, Jessica and van Bommel, Séverine (2014). A practice based approach to forest governance. Forest Policy and Economics, 49, 4-11. doi: 10.1016/j.forpol.2014.04.001
Gandiwa, Edson, Sprangers, Sylvie, van Bommel, Severine, Heitkönig, Ignas M. A., Leeuwis, Cees and Prins, Herbert H. T. (2014). Spill-over effect in media framing: representations of wildlife conservation in Zimbabwean and international media, 1989-2010. Journal for Nature Conservation, 22 (5), 413-423. doi: 10.1016/j.jnc.2014.03.009
Powell, Neil Scott, Larsen, Rasmus Kløcker and van Bommel, Severine (2014). Meeting the ‘Anthropocene’ in the context of intractability and complexity: infusing resilience narratives with intersubjectivity. Resilience, 2 (3), 135-150. doi: 10.1080/21693293.2014.948324
Jensen, Anne, van Bommel, Severine, Pedersen, Anders Branth, Nielsen, Helle Ørsted and Kuindersma, Wiebren (2013). Framing climate change: new directions in Dutch and Danish planning strategies. Planning Theory and Practice, 14 (2), 233-247. doi: 10.1080/14649357.2013.784347
Wiersum, K. F., Humphries, S. and van Bommel, S. (2013). Certification of community forestry enterprises: experiences with incorporating community forestry in a global system for forest governance. Small-scale Forestry, 12 (1), 15-31. doi: 10.1007/s11842-011-9190-y
Klerkx, Laurens, van Bommel, Severine, Bos, Bram, Holster, Henri, Zwartkruis, Joyce V. and Aarts, Noelle (2012). Design process outputs as boundary objects in agricultural innovation projects: functions and limitations. Agricultural Systems, 113, 39-49. doi: 10.1016/j.agsy.2012.07.006
Mauz, Isabelle, Peltola, Taru, Granjou, Céline, van Bommel, Severine and Buijs, Arjen (2012). How scientific visions matter: insights from three long-term socio-ecological research (LTSER) platforms under construction in Europe. Environmental Science and Policy, 19-20, 90-99. doi: 10.1016/j.envsci.2012.02.005
Turnhout, Esther, Van Bommel, Severine and Aarts, Noelle (2010). How participation creates citizens: Participatory governance as performative practice. Ecology and Society, 15 (4). doi: 10.5751/ES-03701-150426
Van Bommel, S., Röling, N., Aarts, N. and Turnhout, E. (2009). Social learning for solving complex problems: A promising solution or wishful thinking? A case study of multi-actor negotiation for the integrated management and sustainable use of the drentsche aa area in the Netherlands. Environmental Policy and Governance, 19 (6), 400-412. doi: 10.1002/eet.526
Conference Paper
Magar, Sita Bantha, Verreynne, Martie-Louise, Phelan, Anya, Ross, Helen and van Bommel, Severine (2025). Understanding motivation of green entrepreneurs: a proposed study of the emerging bioplastics sector. Australasian Consortium for Entrepreneurship Research Excellence, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 10 - 14 February 2025.