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Doctor

Karen Raubenheimer

Senior Lecturer

Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS)

Orcid identifier0000-0003-3556-0668
  • Senior Lecturer
    Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS)
  • +61 408051386
  • ITAMS Bldg, Innovation Campus; University of Wollongong, Northfields Ave, Wollongong, New South Wales, 2522, Australia

BIO

Karen joined ANCORS in January 2017. She obtained her PhD from ANCORS in 2016, focusing on international and regional legal and policy frameworks. Her thesis, titled Towards an Improved Framework to Prevent Marine Plastic Debris, analysed measures to prevent ocean- and land-based sources of plastic pollution. The feasibility of a new legally binding international agreement and an associated global funding mechanism was reviewed. After she presented a possible model for such an agreement at the 17th meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea, titled "Marine debris, plastics and micro-plastics" she was contracted by UNEP to conduct further assessment on the effectiveness of international and regional regulatory frameworks to prevent marine litter and microplastics.

Karen was the lead researcher and author of the 2017 assessment for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) titled: Combating marine plastic litter and microplastics: An assessment of the effectiveness of relevant international, regional and subregional governance strategies and approaches. The project was conducted in collaboration with Prof McIlgorm and Dr Nulifer Oral (Istanbul Bilgi University).
Karen presented the resulting report at the third meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-3) in Nairobi, December 2017. Karen has since been involved in the Ad Hoc Open Ended Expert Group meetings and the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) for the negotiation of a global legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution.

Karen was contracted by UNEP to develop a design guide for regional marine litter action plan and was also co-author of the UN Regional Seas Strategic Directions (RSSD) 2022-2025. She was involved in the development of marine litter guidelines for the APEC region and worked with Prof McIlgorm to update the 2009 report on the economics of marine litter within APEC economies.

Karen was the lead author of the 2020 report commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers for the Environment and Climate title "Possible elements of a new global agreement to prevent plastic pollution" (nordicreport2020.com). In 2023, Karen lead the report for the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, titled "Global governance of plastics and associated chemicals,' for submission to the second meeting of the INC. She was again contracted by the Nordic Council of Ministers for the Environment and Climate to deliver a report titled "Global criteria to address problematic, unnecessary and avoidable plastic products." Two reports have been co-authored with GRID-Arendal, titled "Science-Policy Interface for Plastic Pollution" and "Climate Impacts of Plastics."

Karen has attended all meetings of the International Negotiating Committee to develop a new legally binding international instrument for plastic pollution. She co-authored a report titled "Elaborating on the options of the draft plastics instrument to manage chemicals and polymers of concern," funded by the Minderoo Foundation, to assist delegations in negotiating related control measures. Karen was requested by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and funded by the World Bank to develop a horizontal mapping of the draft plastics agreement to assist PSIDS in preparing for negotiations.

Karen also holds a Master of Environmental Management from the University of New South Wales and has a background in Information Technology. She has worked in Cape Town, London and Sydney as an IT Systems Engineer and Project Manager, consulting to a range of institutions, including the financial sector. While working at Surfrider Foundation Australia, she coordinated corporate beach cleans.

UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG APPOINTMENTS

  • Senior Lecturer
    Faculty of Business and Law, Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), Wollongong, Australia2022 - present

DEGREES

  • PhD
    Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong, Australia, Wollongong, Australia2012 - 2016
  • Masters of Environmental Management
    University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia2010 - 2011

AVAILABILITY

  • Masters Research or PhD student supervision