Truly joined NRI in June 2020. Previously, she was an adjunct researcher at the University of Queensland (Australia) and the University of Kent.

Her research seeks to understand how people and the environment shape one another, and how we can move towards more just and sustainable futures. Bringing together geospatial analysis, statistical modelling, and quasi-experimental methods, she examines the sustainability of food systems, agriculture, and land use across social, economic, and environmental dimensions. Alongside these approaches, she is increasingly integrating social inquiry and critical political economy into her work. This growing interest reflects her desire to look beyond environmental and spatial patterns to better understand the social relations, power structures, and political-economic forces that shape how people interact with the environment, and how the costs and benefits of sustainability are distributed across society.

Truly has led a wide range of interdisciplinary research initiatives and publications. Her work has explored the impacts of oil palm agriculture and the effectiveness and limitations of sustainability certification in improving livelihoods and reducing poverty; the opportunities and challenges of community forestry and forest conservation; the links between climate change, disasters such as wildfires and floods, and human health; and how species and biodiversity respond to climate and environmental change. Her earlier work, including her PhD and postdoctoral research, also examined theoretical spatial analysis and macroecology. More recently, Truly has broadened her research to explore global trade, natural resource flows, and telecoupling, as well as the political economy of land and environmental governance in the green transition. She is also interested in how customary forest governance aligns, or comes into tension, with contemporary institutions.

Truly obtained a BSc in Mathematics from Bandung Institute of Technology (Indonesia), an MSc in Statistics and Operations Research from RMIT University (Melbourne), and a PhD in Resource Management and Environmental Science from the Australian National University (ANU). After completing her PhD, she spent her postdocs in Canberra, Brisbane, then Helsinki.

I am interested in interdisciplinary research that explores the connections between environmental change, sustainability, land governance (both contemporary and customary), and socio-environmental equity. I bring together mathematics, statistics, computer science, and geospatial science with critical social science perspectives, ethnography, and participatory research. I see these approaches as equally important and complementary, where quantitative methods can reveal patterns and relationships, and social science helps critically examine the historical processes, power relations, and lived experiences that shape them. Bringing these forms of knowledge into conversation allows me to better understand not only what is changing, but also why, how, and for whom. What I find most rewarding is learning across disciplines, remaining open to different ways of knowing, and working with others to make sense of complex real-world challenges.

NRI Research Groups and Centres affiliations

• Ecosystem Service Research Group
• Political Ecology, Culture, and Arts Research Group
• Research Centre on Sustainable Agriculture for One Health
• Research Centre for Society, Environment, and Development

Multiscalar resource governance in the age of decarbonization: Linking global imperatives to local realities.

Project Lead. British Academy International Interdisciplinary Research Projects Award. 2026-2028. £299,830.

Synopsis: This project explores how the global shift toward decarbonization is driving demand for critical minerals and reshaping mining governance. Globally, it examines trade flows, national and corporate strategies, and international regulations. Nationally, it investigates how global pressures interact with domestic policies, economic priorities, and environmental protection. Locally, it explores mining’s impacts on communities, land, and ecosystems. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods with historical analysis, the project seeks to identify possible tensions between global climate goals and local realities, informing pathways toward a more just and sustainable energy transition.

Scaling nature-based solutions for climate resilience, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable livelihoods in Ethiopia’s drylands: A participatory Systems approach.

Project Co-Lead. UK Defra–GCBC (Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate). 2026-2029. £958,000.

Contextualising the dynamics of evidence-informed policymaking in Social Forestry.

Project Lead. British Academy Evidence-informed Policymaking Grants. 2025-2026. £148,947.

Synopsis: Evidence-informed policymaking is vital for effective governance, yet translating evidence into action remains challenging in complex political and social contexts. Indonesia’s Social Forestry Initiative (SFI) illustrates this challenge. For over a decade, SFI has sought to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while improving community land rights and local livelihoods. However, competing disciplinary evidence, sectoral differences, and unequal epistemic power determines which knowledge carries the most weight, complicating decisions and contributing to uneven socio-environmental outcomes across regions. Our research examines how institutions, politics, and regional disparities shape evidence use and develops a framework to support SFI’s environmental and social objectives.

Evaluating the interrelated impacts of commodity agriculture, market access, and forest conservation on food security in tropical landscape.

Project Lead. UKRI ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative. 2023-2025. £308,729.

Transformative change in telecoupled agrofood systems for biodiversity and equity (TC4BE).

Project Co-Lead. EU Horizon. 2022-2026. €2,162,553.

Synthesis and critical assessment of management tools to mainstream biodiversity in decision-making in the private sector.

Project Co-Lead. UKRI NERC Economics of Biodiversity Programme. 2022. £50,000.

Building the evidence base on trade agreements and environmental outcomes.

Project Co-Lead. UK Defra. 2022. £50,000

• Ania Sawko (NRI)
• Kainat Bibi (NRI)
• Georgie Hurst (Food System CDT - NRI)
• Adrian Kaluka (Food System CDT – University of Sussex)
• Rubina Adhikari (NRI, completed in 2025)
• Dr Razak Kiribou (NRI and RSIF PASET programme, completed in 2025)
• Sarah Whenham (NRI, completed in 2024)
• Dr Jane Mwangi (NRI and RSIF PASET programme, completed in 2024)
• Dr Diana Tixi (NRI, completed in 2024)
• Dr Emily Massingham (University of Queensland, completed in 2023)

MSc Global Environmental Change

MSc Agriculture for Sustainable Development

• Introduction to GIS for Natural Resource Management (GEOG-1033)

• Conservation Ecology (AGRI-1301)

BSc Biology

• Introduction to Ecological Modelling and Programming (ENVI-1192)

Editorships and scientific communities

• Associate Editor of the British Ecological Society (BES) journal People and Nature
• UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Peer Review College
• IPBES for Task Force for Scenarios and Models

Lead recipient of recent research grants/awards

• British Academy International Interdisciplinary Research Projects Award 2026
• British Academy Evidence-informed Policymaking Grants 2025 Awards
• ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative (SDAI) Grants 2023

2026

• Tixi, D.G., Santika, T., Begg, G.S., Hopkins, R.J., & Arnold, S.E.J. (2026) Population trends and habitat preferences of ground-nesting bees in arable landscapes from public-based records. Insect Conservation and Diversity. https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/54782/
• Mangiwa, L, Saputra, I., Sirimorok, N., Malamassam, D., Santika, T. & Sahide, M.A.K. (2026) The making of triple frontier in mineral extraction, conservation, and agrarian livelihoods. Geoforum 177, 104852. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2026.104852
• Bibi, K., Rodenburg, J., Cordeau, S., Crook, L., Santika, T., Hull, R. & Büchi, L. (2026) Practices and challenges associated with vulpia myuros infestations in Western European arable systems. Weed Research 66, e70108. https://doi:10.1111/wre.70108
• Adhikari, R. & Santika, T. (2026) Rural outmigration and its double-edged effects on community forestry ecology and governance. Environmental Management 76, 260. https://doi:10.1007/s00267-026-02571-5
• Sahide, M.A.K., Daben, M.C., Sirimorok, N. & Santika, T. (2026) Tracing governance transitions: a qualitative framework for analysing shifts from rights-based to entrepreneurial governance regimes. MethodsX 17, 104090. https://doi:10.1016/j.mex.2026.104090

2025

• Santika, T., Nelson, V., Haggar, J. & Thushari, I. (2025) Trade agreements and environmental provisions: a counterfactual analysis of environmental impact shifting under global economic inequality. Global Environmental Change 93, 103028. https://doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2025.103028
• Struebig, M.J., Lee, J.S.H., Deere, N.J., Gevaña, D.T., Ingram, D.J., Lwin, N., Nguyen, T., Santika, T., Seaman, D.J.I., Supriatna, J. & Davies, Z.G. (2025) Drivers and solutions to Southeast Asia’s biodiversity crisis. Nature Reviews Biodiversity 1, 497-514. https://doi:10.1038/s44358-025-00064-7
• Widyati, E., Sadino, Budiharta, S., Akbar, A., Susilo, A., Kurniawan, A., …, Paradelo Perez, M. & Santika, T. (2025) Changes in soil-root-organism interactions following tropical forest conversion to tree and oil palm plantations. Applied Soil Ecology 213, 106253. https://doi:10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.106253
• Kiribou, I.A.R., Nikiema, T., Dimobe, K., Zoungrana, B.J., Ouedraogo, V., Yang, H, Santika, T., Dejene, S.W. (2025) Climate change and variability as drivers of vegetation dynamics in Bontioli Natural Reserve, West African drylands. Environmental Challenges 20, 101175. https://doi:10.1016/j.envc.2025.101175
• Mwangi, J.G., Mohammed, S., Umar, K.M., Haggar, J., Santika, T. (2025) Towards the sustainability of African sandalwood: understanding the distribution and environmental requirements. Plants, People, Planet 7, 1286-1298. https://doi:10.1002/ppp3.10630

2024

• Morgans, C.L., Jago, S., Andayani, N., … Santika, T. & Struebig, M.J. (2024) Improving well-being and reducing deforestation in Indonesia's protected areas. Conservation Letters 17, e13010. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.13010
• Lo, M., Morgans, C.L., Mumbunan, S., Supriatna, J., Santika, T., Davies, Z.G. & Struebig, M.J. (2024) Nickel mining reduced forest cover in Indonesia, but had mixed outcomes for well-being. One Earth. https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/48412
• Santika, T., Nelson, V., Flint, M., MacEwen, M., Cerretelli, S. & Brack, D. (2024) Leverage points for tackling unsustainable global value chains: market-based measures versus transformative alternatives. Sustainability Science 19, 285–305. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-023-01430-0
• Seaman, D.J., Voigt, M., Ancrenaz, M., ..., Santika, T. et al. (2024) Capacity for recovery in Bornean orangutan populations when limiting offtake and retaining forest. Diversity and Distributions, e13852. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13852
• Kiribou, R., Dimobe, K., Yameogo, L., Yang, H., Santika, T. & Dejene, S.W. (2024) Two decades of land cover change and anthropogenic pressure around Bontioli Nature Reserve in Burkina Faso. Environmental Challenges 17, 101025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2024.101025

2023

• Santika, T., Muhidin, S., Budiharta, S., Haryanto, B., Agus, F., Wilson, K.A., Struebig, M.J. & Po, J.Y. (2023) Deterioration of respiratory health following changes to land cover and climate in Indonesia. One Earth 6, 290-302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.02.012
• Katic, P.G., Cerretelli, S., Haggar, J.P., Santika, T. & Walsh, C. (2023) Mainstreaming biodiversity in business decisions: taking stock of tools and gaps. Biological Conservation 277, 109831. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109831
• Mwangi, J.G., Haggar, J., Mohammed, S., Santika, T. & Umar, K.M. (2023) The ecology, distribution, and anthropogenic threats of multipurpose hemi-parasitic plant Osyris lanceolata. Journal for Nature Conservation 76, 126478. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2023.126478
• Massingham, E., Ancrenaz, M., Mika, D., Sherman, J., Santika, T., Pradipta, L., Possingham, H.P. & Dean, A.J. (2023) Killing of orangutans in Kalimantan - Community perspectives on incidence and drivers. Conservation Science and Practice 5, e13025. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.13025
• Fosch, A., Ferraz de Arruda, G., Aleta, A., Descals, A., Gaveau, D., …, Santika, T., Struebig, M.J. & Moreno, Y. (2023) Replanting unproductive palm oil with smallholder plantations can help achieve Sustainable Development Goals in Sumatra, Indonesia. Communications Earth & Environment 4, 378. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-01037-4
• Massingham, E., Wilson, K.A., Ancrenaz, M., Santika, T., Friedman, R., Possingham, H.P. & Dean, A.J. (2023) Public opinion on protecting iconic species depends on individual wellbeing: Perceptions about orangutan conservation in Indonesia and Malaysia. Environmental Science and Policy 150, 103588. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103588

2022

• Santika, T., Sherman, J., Voigt, M., Ancrenaz, M, Wich, S.A., Wilson, K.A. et al. (2022) Effectiveness of 20 years of conservation investments in protecting orangutans. Current Biology 32, 1754-1763. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.02.051
• Voigt, M., Kühl, H.S., Ancrenaz, M., Gaveau, D., Santika, T., Sherman, J., Wich, S.A., Wolf, F., Struebig, M.J. & Pereira, H.M. (2022) Deforestation projections imply range-wide population decline for critically endangered Bornean orangutan. Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation 20, 240-248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecon.2022.06.001

2021

• Santika, T., Wilson, K.A., Law, E.A., St John, F.A., Carlson, K.M., Gibbs, H., Morgans, C.L. & Struebig, M.J. (2021) Impact of palm oil sustainability certification on village well-being and poverty in Indonesia. Nature Sustainability 4, 109-119. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00630-1
• Voigt, M., Supriatna, J., Deere, N.J., Kastanya, A., Mitchell, S.L., Rosa, I.M., Santika, T. et al. (2021) Emerging threats from deforestation and forest fragmentation in the Wallacea centre of endemism. Environmental Research Letters 16, 094048. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac15cd
• Sherman, J., Unwin, S., ..., Santika, T., Massingham, E. & Seaman, D.J. (2021) Disease risk and conservation implications of orangutan translocations. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 749547. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.749547
• Meijaard, E., Santika, T., Wilson, K.A., Budiharta, S. et al. (2021) Toward improved impact evaluation of community forest management in Indonesia. Conservation Science and Practice 3, e189. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.189
• Ancrenaz, M., Oram, F., Nardiyono, N., Silmi, M., Jopony, M.E., Voigt, M., Seaman, D.J., Sherman, J., Santika, T. et al. (2021) Importance of small forest fragments in agricultural landscapes for maintaining orangutan metapopulations. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change 4, 560944. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2021.560944

2020

• Santika, T., Budiharta, S., Law, E.A., Dennis, R.A., Dohong, A., Struebig, M.J., Gunawan, H. & Wilson, K.A. (2020) Interannual climate variation, land type and village livelihood effects on fires in Kalimantan, Indonesia. Global Environmental Change 64, 102129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102129
• Friedman, R.S., Rhodes, J.R., Dean, A.J., Law, E.A., Santika, T., Budiharta, S., Kusworo, A., St. John, F.A.V., Struebig, M.J. & Wilson, K.A. (2020) Analyzing procedural equity in government-led community-based forest management. Ecology and Society 25,16. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11710-250316
• Meijaard, E., Brooks, T.M., Carlson, K.M., Slade, E.M., Garcia-Ulloa, J., Gaveau, D.L., Lee, J.S.H., Santika, T., Juffe-Bignoli, D., Struebig, M.J. & Wich, S.A. (2020) The environmental impacts of palm oil in context. Nature Plants 6, 1418-1426. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-020-00813-w
• Laurance, W.F., Wich, S.A., ..., Santika, T., Byler, D., Mittermeier, R. & Kormos, R. (2020) Tapanuli orangutan endangered by Sumatran hydropower scheme. Nature Ecology & Evolution 4, 1438-1439. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1263-x
• Friedman, R.S., Guerrero, A.M., McAllister, R.R., Rhodes, J.R., Santika, T., Budiharta, S., Indrawan, T., Hutabarat, J.A., Kusworo, A. & Yogaswara, H. (2020) Beyond the community in participatory forest management: A governance network perspective. Land Use Policy 97, 104738. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104738
• Sherman, J., Ancrenaz, M., Voigt, M., Oram, F., Santika, T. & Wich, S.A. (2020) Envisioning a future for Bornean orangutans: Conservation impacts of action plan implementation and recommendations for improved population outcomes. Biodiversitas 21, 465-477. https://doi.org/10.13057/biodiv/d210206

2019

• Santika, T., Wilson, K.A., Budiharta, S., Law, E.A., Poh, T.M. & Struebig, M.J. (2019) Does oil palm agriculture help alleviate poverty? A multidimensional counterfactual assessment of oil palm development in Indonesia. World Development 120, 105-117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.04.012
• Santika, T., Wilson, K.A., ...., Struebig, M., Ancrenaz, M. & Poh, T.M. (2019) Changing landscapes, livelihoods and village welfare in the context of oil palm development. Land Use Policy 87, 104073. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104073
• Morgans, C.L., Santika, T., Meijaard, E. et al. (2019) Cost-benefit based prioritisation of orangutan conservation actions in Indonesian Borneo. Biological Conservation 238, 108236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108236
• Santika, T., Wilson, K.A., Budiharta, S., Kusworo, A., Law, E.A., Friedman, R., ...., St. John, F.A. & Struebig, M.J. (2019) Heterogeneous impacts of community forestry on forest conservation and poverty alleviation: Evidence from Indonesia. People and Nature 1, 204-219. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.25

2018

• Morgans, C.L., Meijaard, E., Santika, T., Law, E., Budiharta, S., Ancrenaz, M. & Wilson, K.A. (2018) Evaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple sustainability objectives. Environmental Research Letters 13, 064032. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aac6f4
• Voigt, M., Wich, S.A., Ancrenaz, M., Abram, N., Banes, G.L., Campbell-Smith, G., d’Arcy, L.J., …, Santika, T. et al. (2018) Global demand for natural resources eliminated more than 100,000 Bornean orangutans. Current Biology 28, 761-769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.01.053

2017

• Santika, T., Meijaard, E., Budiharta, S., Law, E.A., Kusworo, A., Hutabarat, J.A., Indrawan, T.P., Struebig, M. et al. (2017) Community forest management in Indonesia: Avoided deforestation in the context of anthropogenic and climate complexities. Global Environmental Change 46, 60-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2017.08.002
• Santika, T., Ancrenaz, M., Wilson, K.A., Spehar, S., Abram, N. et al. (2017) First integrative trend analysis for a great ape species in Borneo. Scientific Reports 7, 4839. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-04435-9
• Wijedasa, L.S., Jauhiainen, J., …, Santika, T. et al. (2017) Denial of long‐term issues with agriculture on tropical peatlands will have devastating consequences. Global Change Biology 23, 977-982. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13516
• Lunney, D., Stalenberg, E., Santika, T. & Rhodes, J.R. (2017) A rebuttal to ‘Mooted extinction of koalas at Eden: improving the information base’. Wildlife Research 44, 453-457. https://doi.org/10.1071/WR17008

2016 and Earlier

• Santika, T., McAlpine, C.A., Lunney, D., Wilson, K.A. & Rhodes, J.R. (2015) Assessing spatiotemporal priorities for species’ recovery in broad‐scale dynamic landscapes. Journal of Applied Ecology 52, 832-840. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12441
• Santika, T., Meijaard, E. & Wilson, K.A. (2015) Designing multifunctional landscapes for forest conservation. Environmental Research Letters 10, 114012. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/11/114012
• Santika, T., McAlpine, C.A., Lunney, D., Wilson, K.A. & Rhodes, J.R. (2014) Modelling species distributional shifts across broad spatial extents by linking dynamic occupancy models with public‐based surveys. Diversity and Distributions 20, 786-796. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12189
• Lunney, D., Stalenberg, E., Santika, T. & Rhodes, J.R. (2014) Extinction in Eden: identifying the role of climate change in the decline of the koala in south-eastern NSW. Wildlife Research 41, 22-34. https://doi.org/10.1071/WR13054
• Santika, T. (2011) Assessing the effect of prevalence on the predictive performance of species distribution models using simulated data. Global Ecology and Biogeography 20, 181-192. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00581.x
• Santika, T. & Hutchinson, M.F. (2009) The effect of species response form on species distribution model prediction and inference. Ecological Modelling 220, 2365-2379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2009.06.004
• Hearne, J.W., Santika, T. & Goodman, P. (2008) Portfolio selection theory and wildlife management. ORiON: Journal of the Operations Research Society of South Africa 24, 103-113. https://doi.org/10.5784/24-2-62