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Short course on resilience assessment and SES methods
May 04, 2022 |
A collaboration of the Resilience Alliance and ResNet, the course will explore key methods used in resilience practice. Application deadline May 31, 2022. |
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The annual Resilience Alliance (RA) short course is a collaboration of the Resilience Alliance network and ResNet (www.nsercresnet.ca). In 2022, the course will be taught online by international experts and attended by post-graduate students (Masters and PhD) and post-doctoral researchers from around the world.
The purpose of this exciting one-week course is to draw on the expertise of scholars in the RA network to teach about resilience as conceptualized and studied by RA scholars and to facilitate collaboration among a broader network of students and researchers. Approximately 25 applicants will be accepted to participate in this course.
2022 THEME: Resilience Assessment and Methods
In 2022 the course will focus on resilience assessment and related social-ecological systems methods. Drawing on The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods for Social-Ecological Systems, the course will offer a unique opportunity to learn directly from many of the researchers who contributed to the book as chapter authors. Topics will include: the evolution of resilience assessment, data needs and opportunities for assessing the resilience of systems, future scenarios and resilience assessment, systems scoping, and dynamic systems modelling.
FORMAT
The five-day immersive course will be asynchronous with two online sessions daily coupled with offline readings, presentations, and a group project. Participants will meet with instructors in plenary and in small groups for two 75-minute sessions between the hours of 11:00am - 2:00pm EST each day.
LECTURERS
Allyson Quinlan (Convener) - Resilience Alliance, Canada
Elena Bennett - McGill University, Canada
Reinette Biggs - University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
Jennifer Hodbod - Michigan State University, USA
My Sellberg - Stockholm Resilience Center (SRC), Sweden
Alta de Vos - Rhodes University, South Africa
Steven Lade - Australian National University & SRC
Nadia Sitas - University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
Juan Rocha - Stockholm Resilience Center, Sweden
Paul Ryan - Australia Resilience Center, Australia
HOW TO APPLY
Post-graduate students (Masters and PhD) and early-career researchers are invited to apply by completing the online application form by May 31, 2022:
https://forms.gle/Lg7xSA1eB3n7P9ib9
There is no fee to apply. Students accepted for the course will be required to pay a registration fee of $125 USD. A limited number of grants are available to qualifying students who are unable to fund their attendance.
More information here.
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Applied Panarchy: Applications and Diffusion across Disciplines
Apr 19, 2022 |
Edited by: Gunderson, L., C.R. Allen and A.S. Garmestani |
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From the publishers website: https://islandpress.org/books/applied-panarchy
Panarchy was coined by combining the Greek god of nature (Pan) with the Greek word arkos for rules. Thus, panarchy is "nature's rules" and provides a framework to understand change in social-ecological systems and for managing complex environmental issues. Panarchy represents a means for managing the issues that emerge from the interaction between people and nature. That interaction sometimes generates surprises, often the result of slow changes that can accumulate and unexpectedly shift a linked system of humans and nature into a qualitatively different regime (e.g., coral reef systems shifting from coral-dominated to algal-dominated). That regime may be not only impoverished, but also effectively irreversible. Thus, understanding how such change occurs, within and across scales, is critical to achieving a sustainable society. Applied Panarchy explores how these concepts have diffused to relevant academic disciplines in environmental, social and ecological sciences, as well as applied fields of law, policy, economics, engineering, and resource management. Such understanding has influenced the practice, governance and management of our planet and has critical importance moving forward in the Anthropocene.
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NEW - The Routledge Handbook for Research Methods of Social-Ecological Systems
Aug 18, 2021 |
Open-access book targets students and researchers of social-ecological systems, offering the first comprehensive guide to SES research methods. |
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Published in July 2021, The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods for Social-Ecological Systems, will be of great interest to students, lecturers and researchers working on SES. The highly anticipated book has been in development for several years, engaging 97 authors from across the globe and a team of editors who are leading experts in the field.
The long overdue handbook provides an introduction to SES research that includes its complexity-based foundations, before moving on to systematically present twenty-eight chapters of research methods specifically used in SES research under four main headings: Methods for data generation and systems scoping, Methods for knowledge co-production and effecting system change, Methods of analyzing systems - system components and linkages, Methods for anlysing systems - system dynamics. A final chapter offers a synthesis and looks toward emerging frontiers in SES research methods.
An open-access pdf version of the handbook is available for free and can be downloaded at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003021339.
Reinette (Oonsie) Biggs, who edited the book along with Alta de Vos, Rika Preiser, Hayley Clements, Kristine Maciejewski, and Maja Schlüter, presents an introduction to the handbook here on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZJBtBFLUew.
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The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods for Social-Ecological Systems. Edited by Reinette Biggs, Alta de Vos, Rika Preiser, Hayley Clements, Kristine Maciejewski, and Maja Schlüter. 2022. Routledge, New York, NY.
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Resilience as pathway diversity: linking systems, individual, and temporal perspectives on resilience
Nov 19, 2020 |
RA members Steven Lade, Brian Walker & Jamila Haider propose a new approach to assessing resilience using the concept of pathway diversity. |
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New research published in Ecology and Society demonstrates how the concept of pathway diversity can be used to quantify social-ecological resilience. Steven Lade along with colleagues Brian Walker and Jamila Haider, have developed a model of resilience that takes into account how actions taken now can create feedbacks that constrain or enhance the availability of options currently, as well as into the future, thus altering the number and variety of available future pathways. This novel approach to both conceptualizing and measuring resilience promises to advance both theory and practice.
Full reference:
Lade, S. J., B. H. Walker, and L. J. Haider. 2020. Resilience as pathway diversity: linking systems, individual, and temporal perspectives on resilience. Ecology and Society 25(3):19.
https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11760-250319
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Identifying pathways to reduce discrepancies between desired and provided ecosystem services
May 26, 2020 |
McGill University researcher Dalal Hanna, along with her co-authors, present a case study from the Outaouais region of Québec, Canada. |
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Recently published in the journal Ecosystem Services, the paper describes a framework and process for shedding light on actor's disatisfaction with the type, amount or quality of ecosystem services available to them. Through a combination of a survey and workshop, the authors identify actions that can be taken to address the discrepancies between desired and provided ecosystem services.
Working with local organizations and diverse stakeholders, and deliberately designing a process to enable learning and the co-production of knowledge, the researchers hope that this type of approach can reduce conflict among actors and more generally foster better relationships between people and nature.
Reference:
Hanna, Dalal, D.J. Roux, B. Currie, and E.M. Bennett. 2020. Identifying pathways to reduce discrepancies between desired and provided ecosystem services. Ecosystem Services 43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2020.101119
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Coerced regimes: management challenges in the Anthropocene
Apr 03, 2020 |
In the latest issue of Ecology & Society David Angeler and colleagues introduce the term 'coerced regimes' to describe systems propped up by management inputs. |
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RA members Dirac Twidwell and Craig Allen are contributing authors on a recent paper in E&S that explores the idea of coerced regimes, that may result from a 'command and control' style of management. The concept of maintaining systems through constant management to support a desirable regime (e.g., in the sense of supplying a flow of goods and services) has been approached from different scientific fields in the past and the authors assert that this new concept of coerced regimes "motivates discussions about what we know and envision versus what we do not know and therefore cannot envision". This line of research helps direct attention at social dynamics as part of the feedbacks of managed social-ecological systems.
Reference:
Angeler, D. G., B. C. Chaffin, S. M. Sundstrom, A. Garmestani, K. L. Pope, D. Uden, D. Twidwell, and C. R. Allen. 2020. Coerced regimes: management challenges in the Anthropocene. Ecology and Society 25(1):4.
https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11286-250104
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Scenarios of Good Athropocenes in southern Africa
Mar 27, 2020 |
Researchers from South Africa including RA member Oonsie Biggs, collaborated with others to develop a set of positive visions for the future of southern Africa based on existing initiatives called "seeds". |
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Using a participatory workshop approach the team of authors collaborated with scientists, artists, and practitioners to develop and analyze positive visions of the future that are based on "seeds of good Anthropocenes". The seeds represent existing local initiatives that have been identified for their potential for bringing about positive change, including experiments, actions, and organizations that can possibly be scaled up. A set of seeds from the region formed the basis of four future scenario narratives that were further developed using the three horizons framework to identify potential pathways to these futures. The novel methodology yielded numerous insights and emphasizes system strengths over more traditional problem-centric approaches to developing future scenarios.
Link to paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016328720300161
Reference:
Hamann, M., R. Biggs, L. Pereira, R. Preiser, T. Hichert, R. Blanchard, H. Warrington-Coetzee, N. King, A. Merrie, W. Nilsson, P. Odendaal, S. Poskitt, D. Sancez Betancourt, G. Ziervogel. 2020. Scenarios of Good Anthropocenes in southern Africa. Futures 118: 102526. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2020.102526
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Exploring non-linear transition pathways in social-ecological systems
Mar 20, 2020 |
RA Members Jennifer Hodbod and Michael Schoon are co-authors on a new study that explores tipping point dynamics. |
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Understanding tipping points and the potential transition pathways they create is challenging because of the non-linear interactions of social and ecological systems.
In a new paper by J.D. Mathias & colleagues, the authors analyze the potential effect of tipping points on transition pathways using a stylized model composed of agents exploiting resources in an ecosystem and interacting with other agents.
The researcher's model suggests people's perceptions of an ecosystem's state interacts in complex ways with how resources are exploited, sometimes leading to counter-intuitive outcomes.
The study highlights the complexity of managing long-term and short-term benefits and how understanding social-ecological interactions is critical to identifying sustainable transition pathways.
Reference:
Mathias, J.D., J.M. Anderies, J. Baggio, J. Hodbod, S. Huet, M.A. Janssen, M. Milkoreit, and M. Schoon. 2020. Exploring non-linear transition pathways in social-ecological systems. Scientific Reports 10:4136. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-59713-w
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C.S. 'Buzz' Holling Memorial Fund
Dec 06, 2019 |
In memory of Buzz Holling, the Resilience Alliance has established a fund to support the participation of Resilience Alliance Young Scholars (RAYS) in research network activities. |
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Donations to the Buzz Holling Memorial Fund can be made online. All donations to the fund will be used exclusively to support the participation of Resilience Alliance Young Scholars in research network activities.
VISIT the Holling Memorial Fund page for more information: https://www.resalliance.org/index.php/hollingfund.
Photo credit: Simon Fraser University Public Affairs and Media Relations
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Which methods to use for social-ecological systems (SES) research?
Dec 05, 2019 |
A recently published review by De Vos, Biggs & Preiser identifies 311 methods grouped into 27 categories that are commonly used in SES research. |
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SES research is a rapdily growing field that uses multiple methods, which can make it challenging for those entering the field to know where to start. A comprehensive review that focuses on SES as complex adaptive systems reveals a significant increase in SES research over the past three decades and also describes and organizes into categories the main types of methods being used (311 methods from an initial 632, grouped into a manageable 27 categories).
The authors also note the key role that the journal Ecology and Society continues to play in the development of this field, as the first open access, online journal in the SES field.
"Our timeline analysis shows the most significant inflection point in the rise of SES research to lie between 1999 and 2000, which coincides with the establishment of the Resilience Alliance in 1999 (Folke 2006, Parker and Hackett 2012), and the initial publication of their affiliate journal Ecology and Society, which has published more SES research than any other journal."
In addition to providing some welcome guidance to the abundance of methods commonly used in SES research, the authors note how the key words identified in their study reveal "a focus of SES research on pressing sustainability issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, livelihoods, poverty, policy, land use change, water, and social and environmental justice" and advances how SES research is defined and practiced.
De Vos, A., R. Biggs, and R. Preiser. 2019. Methods for understanding social-ecological systems: a review of place-based studies. Ecology and Society 24(4):16.
https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11236-240416
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