Rebecca Denniss
Bachelor of Arts (Honours) (Sociology) | Master of Environment (Climate Change)
Senior Consultant
  • Bio
  • Recent projects
  • Qualifications
<
>
Rebecca has been a core part of the FPC team for the last five yeas, bringing experience in social and environmental policy and research to her role. She has led and contributed to a range of projects - from climate change adaptation and energy efficiency to natural resource management and sustainable agriculture. Rebecca has a particular interest in interdisciplinary approaches to environmental and social problems, and continues to develop her skills and experiences in leading evaluation and social research projects. She is passionate about working with program delivery teams, stakeholders and communities to use evaluation, monitoring, research and reporting to demonstrate and improve the value of the work they do.
​
Past Employment
Prior to First Person Consulting, Rebecca worked as a Policy Officer for the Tasmanian Government across multiple areas. These included placements at the Tasmanian Climate Change Office and Social Inclusion Unit within the Tasmanian Department of Premier and Cabinet, as well as the Department of State Growth working on infrastructure policy. Prior to moving to Melbourne, Rebecca also worked for the University of Tasmania's Sustainable Food Systems Flagship
Rebecca's recent projects include:
  • 2020-2021, Five Million Trees for Greater Sydney Program Midterm Process Evaluation, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
  • 2020-2021, Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap Evaluation, Eastern Alliance for Greenhouse Action
  • 2020-2021, Community Based Bushfire Management Final Evaluation, Country Fire Authority and Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (Safer Together)
  • 2020, Solar for Low Income Households Program Process Evaluation, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
  • 2020, Local Incident Management Planning Evaluation, Wellington Shire Council
  • 2020, Local Government Energy Saver Program Final Evaluation, Sustainability Victoria
  • 2020, Empowering Homes Pilot Process Evaluation, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
  • 2020, Fire Ready Victoria Program Evaluation, Country Fire Authority
  • 2020, Introduction to Monitoring and Evaluation Training, Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group
  • 2019-2020, Environment and Community Programs, 'Evaluation Challenge' capacity building and process integration, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
  • 2019-2020, Lapsing Program Evaluations x 4 (Port Philip Bay Fund, Peri-urban Weed Management Partnership Program, Support for Landcare Initiative, Victorian Environment Partnerships Program), Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
  • 2017-2020, Officers for Protection of the Local Environment Pilot Program Evaluation, EPA Victoria
  • 2018-2020, Evaluation of the Landholders Driving Change Project, NQ Dry Tropics
  • 2019, Biodiversity On-ground Actions Initiative Evaluation Plan, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
  • 2019-2020, Household and Small Business Upgrades Program Mid-term Evaluation and Process Review, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
  • 2019, Clearwater Program Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, Melbourne Water 
  • 2019, Community Based Bushfire Management Evaluation, Country Fire Authority and Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
  • 2018-2019, Expertise Framework Review, EPA Victoria
  • 2018-2019, Evaluation of Phase 1 of the Pilot Adaptation Action Plan Project, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
  • 2018, Biodiversity Information Uplift Program Evaluation, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
  • 2017-2019, Solar PV for Low Income Households ‘Solar Savers’ Program Evaluation, Eastern Alliance for Greenhouse Action
  • 2017-2019, Evaluation of the Prevention Partnerships Program, Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation
  • 2016-2019, Evaluation of the Reef Trust III (Reef Alliance—Growing a Great Barrier Reef Program), NQ Dry Tropics
  • 2017-2018, Farming for Sustainable Soils Program Evaluation, North Central Catchment Management Authority
  • 2017-2018, Alpine Resorts Strategic Plan Review, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (Alpine Resource Coordinating Council)
  • 2017, TAKE2 End of Year One Review, Sustainability Victoria
  • 2017, Litter Hotspots Program Final Evaluation, Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group
  • 2017, Evaluation of the Drought Extension Program, Agriculture Victoria
  • 2016-2017, Landcare Census annual surveying and capacity building, Landcare Tasmania
  • 2016, Measuring the Outcomes of Community Participation in NRM, NRM Regions Australia
  • 2016, Evaluation of Victoria’s Climate Change Adaptation Plan, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
  • 2016, Evaluation of the Smarter Resources Smarter Business Program, Sustainability Victoria
  • 2015-2016, Evaluation of the Reef Programme (Water Quality Grants), NQ Dry Tropics
  • 2015-2016, Reflection on SV2015 Organisational Strategy, Sustainability Victoria
Qualifications
In 2017, Rebecca completed a Master of Environment at the University of Melbourne, focusing on climate change from interdisciplinary perspectives, including policy, governance, economics and law. In 2012 she completed a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Sociology at the University of Tasmania.
Her Honours thesis was a qualitative study on the ways in which people engage with climate change in their everyday lives, and her recent Masters thesis involved a case study on climate change adaptation in Australia’s electricity sector