Safa Fanaian

Dr. Safa Fanaian is an Honorary Lecturer at the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU, specializing in water economics and governance. She contributes to the Water Justice Hub and collaborates with the Development Policy Centre on Papua New Guinea water governance. Her doctoral work at the University of Oxford examined water governance in Guwahati, India as an Oxford-Indira Gandhi Scholar. With a decade of experience in South Asian water security, she bridges academic research with practical policy solutions.

Education: Doctorate in Philosophy (School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford).

Research Interests: Urban river management in LMICs, participatory decision-making frameworks, sustainable financing for water initiatives, and equitable water distribution policies. Her work emphasizes water justice through multi-stakeholder dialogues and institutional reform.

Key Projects: Leading ANU’s PNG water governance project (2023–2025) and co-authoring global water economics reviews. Her recent work critiques centralized vs. decentralized governance models in addressing urban water risks.

Awards: National Geographic Explorer (recognizing fieldwork excellence) and Oxford-India scholarship.

Grants & Collaborations: Involved in Global Commission on the Economics of Water initiatives. Active in transboundary river dialogues (e.g., Brahmaputra Basin).