Dr. Seona Candy

Seona Candy is a senior research fellow with the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab working on food systems analysis, scenario modelling and resilient urban systems. She was joint chief investigator on the Foodprint Melbourne project and is Deputy Node Leader for the Future Cities Node of Excellence in Post-Carbon Resilient Cities.

Seona is currently working as a research fellow on two projects funded by the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living. The Visions and Pathways 2040 project is collaborative, multi-stakeholder project aiming to develop visions, scenarios and pathways for transitioning to low-carbon in Australian cities. The Future Cities Distributed Infrastructure project aims to work collaboratively with a diverse group of local councils to identify opportunities across Melbourne where critical infrastructure services like energy, food, water and waste can be delivered in a way that is more distributed and integrated, and the impacts on carbon emissions and urban resilience.

She has previously worked as a research fellow with the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab on an ARC Linkage project using scenario modelling to link land and resource use with the availability of a nutritionally adequate diet and identify priority policy interventions to protect Australia's future food security in the face of environmental sustainability challenges. The research project was undertaken in collaboration with Deakin University and Australian National University, and uses the Australian Stocks and Flows Framework (ASFF), a model of the physical economy of Australia developed by the CSIRO.

She has a background in engineering, renewable energy, participatory design and international development. She completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne, in conjunction with Engineers Without Borders Australia, investigating the use of appropriate technology to improve food security and nutrition in remote mountain regions of Nepal. She has also worked with CoDesign Studio, most recently on a project using participatory design to develop low-cost floating vegetable gardens to improve food availability and nutrition for impoverished communities living on Lake Ton Le Sap in Cambodia.