Rate My Professor Megan Evans

Dr Megan Evans is a Senior Lecturer in Public Sector Management within the School of Business at UNSW Canberra, University of New South Wales. She also serves as Chief Investigator with the UNSW Institute for Climate Risk and Response. Her academic background includes a Doctor of Philosophy from the Australian National University, a Bachelor of Science with Honours Class 1 from the University of Queensland, a Bachelor of Arts with an extended major in Mathematics from the University of Queensland, and a Bachelor of Science in Ecology from the University of Queensland. As an interdisciplinary social scientist, Dr Evans' research specializations encompass environmental markets, policy and governance, sustainable and conservation finance, public policy, carbon offsets, the science-policy interface, and interdisciplinary research. Her work has informed key environmental policies in Australia, including contributions to the Independent Review of Australian Carbon Credit Units known as the Chubb Review, the development of the Australian government’s biodiversity offset policy under federal environmental laws, and analysis of the economics of land-based carbon offsets that supported the establishment of Queensland’s $500 million Land Restoration Fund. She frequently engages as a media commentator on environmental issues.

Dr Evans holds positions on the editorial board of the journal Conservation Letters. Her career includes notable awards and fellowships such as the 2021 Young Tall Poppy Award for the Australian Capital Territory awarded by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science, the 2018 University of Queensland Faculty of Science Rising Star Academic Award, a 2014 competitive scholarship from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions for a year-long leadership program, the 2014 Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists Science Program Scholarship, and a 2017 Visiting Fellowship at RMIT University funded by the same ARC Centre. Among her key publications are the journal article 'Five rules for scientifically credible nature markets' published in Nature Ecology and Evolution in 2026 (co-authored with zu Ermgassen and others), 'Australian human-induced native forest regeneration carbon offset projects have limited impact on changes in woody vegetation cover and carbon removals' in Communications Earth and Environment in 2024 (with Macintosh and others), 'Backloading to extinction: Coping with values conflict in the administration of Australia's federal biodiversity offset policy' in the Australian Journal of Public Administration in 2023, and the book chapter 'Effective engagement of conservation scientists with decision-makers' in Conservation Research, Policy and Practice in 2020. She has produced numerous additional journal articles, reports, and other scholarly outputs advancing knowledge in environmental governance and policy.