Our Trustee Spotlight series highlights the people guiding the Landscape Research Group. Through these features, we share the diverse experiences, research interests, and motivations that shape the direction of our work.
This month we introduce Dr Saida Hammami, a landscape engineer, Assistant Professor and researcher based in Tunisia. Working across ecology, heritage and urban planning, Saida brings a place-sensitive perspective shaped by Mediterranean landscapes and wider Global South contexts. Her work speaks directly to LRG’s purpose as an international, independent, not-for-profit organisation advancing interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary landscape research through dissemination, communication and exchange.
1. What first inspired you to get involved with the Landscape Research Group and what does being a trustee mean to you?
Being a trustee means taking an active role in strengthening this mission—supporting knowledge exchange, amplifying under-represented voices, and ensuring that landscape research remains grounded in real societal and environmental needs. It is both an honour and a responsibility to help guide an organisation with such a meaningful global impact.
2. What are you most proud of contributing to LRG during your time as a trustee?
I am particularly proud of helping to foster stronger international connections, especially between Mediterranean contexts and the wider LRG community. My work has contributed to highlighting issues such as urban and peri-urban agriculture, climate adaptation, and nature-based solutions in the Global South—topics that I believe enrich the diversity of perspectives within LRG.
I have also valued the opportunity to support more participatory and place-sensitive approaches in the organisation’s activities, encouraging dialogue between researchers, practitioners, and communities.
3. How do you see the role of LRG evolving in the coming years and what opportunities should landscape research focus on next?
In the coming years, I see LRG playing an increasingly important role as a platform connecting global challenges with local realities. Landscape issues are becoming more urgent—from water scarcity and ecological degradation to rapid urbanisation and social vulnerability.
LRG has the opportunity to position itself as a leader in promoting equitable and community-centred landscape planning, advancing nature-based and ecohydrological solutions, supporting interdisciplinary approaches to climate resilience, and bridging research, policy, and practice across diverse regions.
Strengthening partnerships, especially in under-represented areas, will be key to expanding both impact and relevance.
4. What excites you most about the future of landscape research – both within LRG and in the wider field?
I am most excited by the growing recognition that landscapes are not only ecological systems but also cultural, social, and political spaces. This holistic understanding opens the door to research that is more inclusive, more grounded, and more transformative.
Within LRG, I am inspired by the organisation’s commitment to critical and ethical landscape thinking, as well as its willingness to support new voices and experimental forms of research. Across the wider field, I see enormous potential in areas such as regenerative design, participatory governance, climate-adaptive planning, and the integration of digital tools with local knowledge. These directions promise innovative solutions that can genuinely improve the resilience and well-being of communities.
About Dr Saida Hammami, LRG Trustee
Saida Hammami is a Landscape Engineer, Assistant Professor and Researcher in Science and Architecture of Landscape. She is based at the High Agronomic Institute of Chott Meriem / Laboratory for the Management and Valorisation of Forest Resources at the National Research Institute of Rural Engineering, Water and Forestry, and is affiliated with the University of Sousse / University of Carthage, Tunisia. Board Member of the African Association for Geospatial Development.