Maja’s research focuses on the conceptual foundations of SES as intertwined, complex adaptive systems and on developing explanations and middle-range theory of social-ecological phenomena such as regime shifts, sustainable management or traps. She aims to develop methodologies that allows capturing the complex, dynamic and intertwined nature of SES, e.g. through collaborative interdisciplinary processes that combine dynamic modelling with case study research.
Projects: MuSES, CauSES, SE-AS, MoHuB2
Interests: complexity, intertwinedness, causation; agent-based modelling, modelling human behavior, process philosophy
Tilman explores to what extent process-relational philosophy can help us understand complex adaptive systems such as social-ecological systems. A further interest of Tilman lies in studying and developing approaches to disclosing and bridging the many different ontologies and epistemologies used in SES research in view of fostering transdisciplinary knowledge integration.
Projects: CauSES, FoREL PRAda
Interests: process-relational approaches, emergence, philosophy of SES, transdisciplinary knowledge integration
Emilie's interests are to understand aspects of sustainability and resilience of social-ecological systems by using agent-based models in combination with qualitative data. Her interests involves understanding causality, interventions and inequalities operationalized through different research projects and through leading the Interacting Complexities Theme at SRC.
Projects: OctoPINTS, Inequalities & the Biosphere, SMILI, CauSES
Interests: Agent-based modeling, Small-scale fisheries, Multi-dimensional inequalities, Development, Interventions, Social-ecological systems, Complex adaptive systems
Kirill uses a combination of agent-based modelling and qualitative methods (such as process tracing and document analysis) to study the coevolution of social-ecological systems and policy. In particular, his research looks at how interest groups influence policy change and adaptation. He explores this issue in his PhD through the case of 2013 EU Common Fisheries Policy reform.
Projects: EU Common Fisheries Policy, PoliSEA, Baltic Sea, SES typology, FIBE
Interests: policy change, adaptive governance, interest groups, environmental policy, social-ecological systems, mixed methods
Blanca combines empirical knowledge of small-scale fisheries and small-scale agriculture and diverse qualitative and quantitative methods to understand social-ecological systems across scales. She is currently using different types of network analyses and combining network analysis and agent-based, to investigate trade relationships and their interactions with food production.
Projects: Cross-scale relationships of small-scale food production, MobilitySSF, CrossFish
Interests: Small-scale food systems, social-ecological systems, network analysis, mixed-methods
Rodrigo’s main interest is producing and synthesizing knowledge that is useful to spark or navigate change of social-ecological systems for them to become sustainable and fair. Currently, he is exploring the explanatory power of realist social theory to understand transformative processes of linked social-ecological systems.
Projects: The role of academic actors in social-ecological transformative processes
Interests: social-ecological transformations, realist social theory, structure and agency, top-down interventions, bottom-up change
Genevieve's PhD project focuses on the role of crisis in effecting transformative change. She will use a complex adaptive systems perspective to examine historical case studies, and will employ a mixed-methods research approach, combining empirical research with agent-based modelling. Allen is intrigued by the emergence of collaborative modes of governance following or occurring concurrently with crisis, and the subsequent impact on established governance structures. She is particularly interested in the influence of narratives on collaborative modes of governance.
Projects: Transmod
Interests: Sustainability, transformations, complex adaptive systems perspective, agent-based modelling, crisis research, collaborative governance
Sonja’s research is focused on mathematical modelling of social-ecological systems (SES). She uses dynamical system models to capture intertwinedness and complexity of SES and study phenomena such as poverty traps or regime shifts. Other research interests include developing dynamical systems perspective for analysis of causation in SES.
Projects: Poverty traps, MuSES, CauSES
Interests: Mathematical modelling, dynamical systems, social-ecological systems, poverty traps, causality
Nanda’s research focuses on understanding and formalising of human behaviour in and on social-ecological systems. She utilises agent-based modelling (computational simulation) to integrate and formalise case or expert knowledge, (social) theory and connecting to other methods to contribute to a deeper understanding.
Projects: AgentEx, COBA, FIBE, SSFxity
Interests: Agent-based modelling, social simulation, social-cognitive modelling, group dynamics, cooperation, complex systems, behavioural-hybrid-simulation experiments
Kara takes an interdisciplinary approach to studying sustainability and equity in coastal social-ecological systems, using the ecosystem services concept to understand distributions of benefits across space and among stakeholders. Her current work uses ecosystem service modelling to understand spatial patterns of ecosystem service distribution, and the social, environmental, and political drivers of such patterns, in both coral reefs and in the Black Sea.
Romina is passionate about simulation model development and analysis to better understand complex phenomena stemming from human-nature relatinoships. This activity, she feels, becomes most meaningful for the purpose of untangling ecological or social dynamics which are in various ways intertwined with the human ingenuity to celebrate a more or less sustainable lifestyle. She works in the project LimnoScenES (2019 - 2022) and teaches in several university courses and is an active member at Researchers' Desk.
Interests: Freshwater management and governance, ecosystem service co-production, mixed-coupled simulation models, sustainability, serious games.
Previous projects: AQUACROSS (2015-2018), LimnoTip (2013-2015)
Jamila Haider studies the relationship between persistent poverty and biocultural diversity. Her PhD explores how development interventions can improve human well-being without eroding the cultural and agricultural biodiversity that makes a given place unique and is important for global resilience.
Projects: Social-Ecological mechanisms of poverty traps; Rethinking development in the context of co-evolution
Interests: social-ecological response diversity; traps; biocultural diversity; agroecology; development.
Liz's work is largely empirical and focused on small-scale fishing communities and the markets they supply in lower income countries, including coastal fisheries in Ghana, Tanzania, Moçambique and the Philippines. She uses mixed-method interdisciplinary research to unpack the complexities of governance interventions, informal institutions and fisher behaviour against a backdrop of unpredictable social-ecological change.
Projects: OctoPINTS, FoRel, Patron of the Seas
Interests: Small-scale fisheries, seafood trade, fishery markets, social relations, livelihoods, human wellbeing, natural resource management, fishery governance, marine protected areas, interventions, gender, decision-making
Jineth is inspired by the idea of linking theory and practice in sustainability while combining different approaches and methods and integrating different types of knowledge. She is interested in studying social-ecological systems as complex adaptive systems, human-nature interactions, their interactions and interdependencies. Her interests also include strategic planning and adaptive management. She is currently working within the OctoPINTS project and the Interacting Complexities theme at the Stockholm Resilience Centre.
Projects: OctoPINTS
Interest: Sustainability, complex adaptive systems, agent-based modelling, natural resource management, ecosystem services, strategic planning & monitoring
SES-LINK Masters students
Tamhida is a master's student at the Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC, 2022-2024). Her thesis combines Q-methodology and models to explore how mobile apps can increase women's visibility in Mexican small-scale fisheries. Tamhida is supervised by Centre researcher Emilie Lindkvist, together with co-supervisors Kara Pellowe (SRC) and Magdalena Précoma de la Mora from the NGO “Comunidad y Biodiversidad” (COBI) in Mexico. Within SES-LINK, she also worked as a research assistant in a FORMAS-funded project titled Sustainable poverty reduction at the intersection of agricultural dynamics and farmer decision-making. The project PI is Sonja Radosavljevic.
Interests: Social-technical-ecological-systems (STES) research, agent-based modeling, transformations, process-relational perspective, game theory and mental models, small-scale fisheries, rethinking ‘food versus fuel’ debate.
Visitors
Saúl Arriaga M. is a Bachelor Student in Forest Restoration Engineering from Chapingo University, México. He is collaborating in the Spain Case at the CoMet Project in the Stockholm Resilience Centre. He is currently working on ecosystem restoration projects in complex social-hydrological systems using GIS and Network Analysis.
Raphael is a MSc Student of Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) from Humboldt University who is writing his MSc Thesis in collaboration with the SRC and the SES-Link group. He is interested in socio-ecological-systems dynamics and policy processes, with a distinct focus on public policy. During his Thesis, Raphael will focus on agent-based modeling and the adaptation of the PoliSEA-Model to investigate timing of policy change and the role of policy-learning mechanisms in the governance of fisheries.
Interests: policy change, resource governance, agents-based modeling, simulation, complex adaptive systems, socio-ecological systems, environmental policy
SES-LINK Alumni
Udita's research focuses on applying systems thinking to understand processes and dynamics that operate within social-ecological systems. She uses qualitative and quantitative methodological tools such as surveys, extended interviews, participatory games, systems mapping, and scenario planning to construct mental models, system dynamics models, and agent-based models exploring food security, climate adaptation, agricultural innovations, and sustainable resource management.
Projects: MuSES
Interests: Agricultural social-ecological systems, Agent-based models, System Dynamics models, Mental models
Laura integrates theoretical and empirical insights in social-ecological models to study complex interactions between fisheries sustainability, environmental change, and trade taking into account social networks and micro-institutional dynamics.
Krisztina focuses on the role of anticipatory governance in aquatic ecosystems and on understanding emergence in complex-adaptive systems. Futhermore she explores the role of human behavior in just sustainability transformations.
Projects: LimnoScenES, MuSES, OctoPINTS, AgentEx
Interests: water governance, sustainability transformation, psychology of climate action
Anita is a PhD Candidate in Social and Ecological Sustainability at the University of Waterloo. Her research addresses the use of scenarios to explore plausible and desirable futures in the Anthropocene. She is particularly interested in developing reflexive scenario frameworks and tools that help sustainability scientists explore the ‘boundaries’ of the future they create and reinforce through research framing and methodology choices.
Andrew focuses on understanding how scale affects dynamics and governance in social-ecological systems (SESs). He uses stylized mathematical and numerical models to study interactions between processes occurring at different length, time and organisational scales, and how these relate to nonlinear system behaviours such as regime shifts. He aims to understand fundamental principles of scaling, multiscale and cross-scale dynamics in SESs, to help improve governance practices, particularly in agricultural systems and fisheries.
Interests: Complex-adaptive systems, mathematical modelling, multiscale analysis, cross-scale interactions, common-pool resources, sustainable governance, biophysical economics
Helen’s research interests are to investigate human cognition and decision-making in complex and dynamic environments. In particular, in her project at SES-Link she combines empirical methods with agent-based modeling to understand how individual understanding of resource dynamics affects group outcomes such as sustainable resource use. She has an ongoing research interest in understanding how individual knowledge and understanding affect large-scale decisions on complex problems such as climate change.
Maria's research focuses on understanding social-ecological systems from a process-relational perspective. She associates theoretical work, reflecting on the use of concepts borrowed from philosophy for the study of SES, with empirical work, investigating relational notions of social-ecological identity and agency.
Tim's background is in quantum mechanics & plasma physics, but has recently altered his focus towards global sustainability issues. Since 2018 he's been a member of the Stockholm Resilience Centre,investigating the interplay between the climate & economic systems, along side work attempting to codify the Planetary Boundaries concept. Tim joined the LimnoScenES project in February 2020 to delve deeper into the social-ecological systems space, bringing with him a strong model development capacity.
Complex systems provides tools with which one can analyse and understand many important problems and processes in technology, society and our natural world. Utilising my background in theoretical physics, I use mathematical methods and concepts including bifurcation analysis, stochastic dynamical systems, generalised modelling, field theory, network theory and slow-fast systems in a broad range of interdisciplinary projects. Fields of application span ecology, sociology, psychology and cell biology, and I work in collaboration with researchers from those disciplines. Recent projects include the cod fishery in the Baltic Sea; biophysical, cultural and economic dimensions of poverty traps; and feedbacks between climate change and biodiversity.