November 2025 Members of the Social Dynamics & Environmental Change Lab attended the Australian Social Network Analysis Conference (ASNAC 2025) in Byron Bay. Congratulations to lab members Walter Galdames Opazo (PhD candidate) and Henry Bartelet (postdoctoral researcher), who both presented early-stage work from their projects and received thoughtful, constructive feedback from the ANSNA community —Continue reading “On the road: SDEC attends the Australian Social Network Analysis Conference in Byron Bay”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
AdaptNSW Forum: A/Prof Barnes on Social-Ecological Infrastructure
November 2025 Associate Professor Barnes attended the AdaptNSW Forum and presented on social-ecological infrastructure in a panel convened by the Sydney Environment Institute. The panel, Beyond People: Adapting with Animals and Environments, brought together scholars and practitioners to explore how climate adaptation must move beyond business-as-usual approaches toward strategies grounded in care, connection, and rightContinue reading “AdaptNSW Forum: A/Prof Barnes on Social-Ecological Infrastructure”
Mapping social networks to understand who benefits from climate adaptation
Adaptation projects can reduce climate risk, but their benefits and burdens are not shared equally. Working with partners in Eastern Visayas, the Philippines, our team mapped relationships of power, information, and resources around the Leyte Tide Embankment Project (LTEP) to see who gains, who loses, and why. Between July and November 2025, we conducted 71Continue reading “Mapping social networks to understand who benefits from climate adaptation”
PhD milestone and Best Oral Presentation Award
November 2025 Congratulations to Carmen Dobszewicz, PhD candidate in the Social Dynamics & Environmental Change Lab, who was officially confirmed as a doctoral candidate and received the Best Oral Presentation Award for her proposal presentation. Well done Carmen! Her project, “Fostering empathy through projects: using human–shark interventions to promote coexistence,” examines how project-based interventions canContinue reading “PhD milestone and Best Oral Presentation Award”
Members of the SDEC Lab provide expert commentary ahead of COP30
November 2025 As global climate targets come under increasing strain, world leaders, scientists, and non-governmental organisations prepare to convene at COP30. PhD candidate Luisa Fernanda Bedoya Taborda and Associate Professor Michele Barnes (Lab Director) shared expert commentary on climate adaptation, equity, and the importance of community-centred approaches to responding to escalating climate risks. Read moreContinue reading “Members of the SDEC Lab provide expert commentary ahead of COP30”
Resilience Science Must-Knows landmark report released
November 2025 The landmark report Resilience Science Must-Knows was finally released, distilling decades of research into nine essential insights for decision-makers navigating risk, uncertainty, and transformation. Developed in the lead-up to COP30 and in response to UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report — which warns of a twelve-fold shortfall in adaptation finance — the report provides aContinue reading “Resilience Science Must-Knows landmark report released”
WWF Fonseca Leadership Program Fellowship Award
October 2025 Huge congratulations to Luisa Fernanda Bedoya Taborda, PhD candidate in the Social Dynamics & Environmental Change Lab, on being awarded a WWF Fonseca Leadership Program Fellowship! Luisa’s research focuses on nature-based solutions and climate adaptation projects in conflict-affected coastal communities in Colombia, at the intersection of environmental change, peacebuilding, and community resilience. TheContinue reading “WWF Fonseca Leadership Program Fellowship Award”
On the road:SDEC Lab attends Adaptation Futures in Aotearoa New Zealand
October 2025 Several members of the Social Dynamics & Environmental Change Lab attended Adaptation Futures 2025, the flagship conference of the UN World Adaptation Science Programme, held in Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand. Congratulations to PhD Candidate Luisa Fernanda Bedoya Taborda, who presented her work on the intersection of climate change and conflict. Her presentationContinue reading “On the road:SDEC Lab attends Adaptation Futures in Aotearoa New Zealand”
New Book Published: Handbook of Social Networks and the Environment
August 2025 The Handbook of Social Networks and the Environment—co-edited by Associate Professor Barnes (director of the SDEC Lab) and Örjan Bodin from the Stockholm Resilience Centre—has just been published with Edward Elgar. This volume brings together leading scholars from around the world to explore how social networks underpin environmental change and shape responses to today’sContinue reading “New Book Published: Handbook of Social Networks and the Environment”
UNESCO endorsement as a Decade Action for the Ocean Decade
July 2025 Our research project on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in conflict-affected coastal communities has been officially endorsed as a Decade Action by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. NbS offer significant potential to enhance resilience in communities facing overlapping challenges—such as restricted mobility, economic instability, and environmental degradation. Yet in conflict-affected settings, adaptation projects, including NbS, canContinue reading “UNESCO endorsement as a Decade Action for the Ocean Decade”
Social Dynamics and Environmental Change 