Postdoctoral Associate, Network for Engineering With Nature
Katie Foster is an environmental anthropologist whose research focuses on environmental governance, collective decision-making, and the ambiguous role of policy within complex multi-scalar social-ecological challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss. In her current position as a postdoc with IRIS, she studies the use of natural and hybrid infrastructure to enhance flood resiliency in the US, focusing on equity, risk, and scalability in project planning.
Foster received her PhD in Integrative Conservation and Anthropology from the University of Georgia in 2023. Her doctoral research examined mining conflicts in the Peruvian Andes and the variable enactment of international Indigenous rights laws in Latin America. She has also conducted research on a variety of topics related to the human dimensions of conservation, including international climate policy, global agricultural value chains, third-party environmental certifications, and invasive species introductions. Before rejoining the academy, she worked for several years in the non-profit sector in sustainable urban agriculture, native plant conservation, and K-12 environmental education.