{"id":23436,"date":"2024-08-13T11:09:05","date_gmt":"2024-08-13T01:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/fit\/?p=23436"},"modified":"2024-08-13T11:30:20","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T02:00:20","slug":"in-touch-with-jake-robinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/fit\/2024\/08\/13\/in-touch-with-jake-robinson\/","title":{"rendered":"In touch with … Jake Robinson"},"content":{"rendered":"

We caught up with Research Associate and Author Jake Robinson<\/a> to chat about his latest book,\u00a0Treewilding<\/a>, which was released earlier this month.<\/em><\/p>\n

What is your role here at Flinders?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My role at Flinders is as a Research Associate in Restoration Genomics. I\u2019m employed on several projects, including climate-adjusted seed provenancing (leading the soil microbiome aspects) and a large National Environmental Science Program\u00a0(NESP) Resilient Landscape project evaluating restoration methods across Australia. On the side, I work on aerobiome and soil ecoacoustics research, and I love to think about new ecological and evolutionary theories.<\/p>\n

Tell us a little about your new book Treewilding<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Treewilding<\/em><\/a> is all about how to restore global forests and our relationship with nature. The book\u00a0draws\u00a0together\u00a0the latest\u00a0science, Indigenous perspectives (I was lucky to interview Bruce Pascoe, author of Dark Emu<\/em>) and controversies\u2013\u2013think the ‘Wood Wide Web’ concept and Trillion Trees campaign. I also cover underappreciated perspectives, such as forests being as\u00a0invisible<\/em>\u00a0as they are visible, and trees having senses and memory via epigenetics. I also set out pathways to a hopeful future.<\/p>\n

How did you get into your field?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My research is quite interdisciplinary. I\u2019ve always been interested in ecology, symbioses and \u2018systems thinking\u2019. I worked as a consultant ecologist for ten years in the UK before gaining a PhD. Along the way, I\u2019ve acquired experience in biodiversity monitoring, molecular ecology, ecoacoustics and biodiversity-human health connections. I have degrees in ecology, ecosystem health, social research, neuroscience, and a PhD in microbial ecology. I now try to combine these disciplines to have a positive impact on the world.<\/p>\n

Why did you decide to write a book?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Jake and his cat Foxtrot, with his first book<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ve always enjoyed writing. Last year, I published my first book Invisible Friends<\/em><\/a>: How Microbes Shape Our Lives and the World Around Us. <\/em>It aims to flip the prevailing negative narrative of microbes being \u201cthe bane of society\u2019 on its head. This was partly a memoir of my PhD journey, and along the way, I collaborated with the world\u2019s top microbiome scientists. I think I\u2019m now addicted to writing books \u2013 it\u2019s such a great creative output and allows me to translate complex research into more engaging forms. Through books, I can reach a wide audience and hopefully inspire people to think slightly differently about some of the underappreciated aspects of our world.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favourite thing about your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The diversity of my research is important to me and the ability to (hopefully) have a positive impact on the planet. I also love developing new tools and ways of thinking, it\u2019s such a buzz!<\/p>\n

Who inspires you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m inspired by many people – other scientists, philosophers, artists, activists and practitioners. I\u2019m also inspired greatly by the natural world. For instance, I write most of my books outside on a hillside, cliff top or in a forest. It\u2019ll sound a little cheesy, but I view it as a kind of method writing, akin to the immersive experience of method acting \u2013 \u2018at one\u2019 with the perspective I seek to unravel!<\/p>\n

How do you spend your spare time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love to be outside. Whether it\u2019s riding a bike, rock climbing, kayaking or hiking. I\u2019m quite a creative person, so I also like to paint, play musical instruments, host podcasts, etc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We caught up with Research Associate and Author Jake Robinson to chat about his latest book,\u00a0Treewilding, which was released earlier this month. What is your role […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4182,"featured_media":23437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55563,7777,57368],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-around-campus","category-college-of-science-and-engineering","category-in-touch-with"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/fit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/fit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/fit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/fit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/fit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/fit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/fit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/fit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/fit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/fit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}