News

New Book Published: Handbook of Social Networks and the Environment

August 2025

The Handbook of Social Networks and the Environment—co-edited with 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’s most urgent sustainability challenges.

Drawing on diverse case studies and the latest network science, the Handbook examines:

  • Collaboration, power, learning, and social influence in environmental contexts
  • The spread of sustainable innovations and barriers to change
  • Governance, risk, and resilience in the face of disasters and climate change
  • Global trade, conservation, post-disaster recovery, seed exchange, and more

We have been honoured by the reception so far. Steve Borgatti praised it as “the network analysis volume that tackles the BIG environmental problems,” while Johan Rockström described it as “a comprehensive overview and deep dive served with scientific passion.” Carl Folke and Katrina Brown have also offered generous endorsements highlighting the book’s timeliness and depth.

This project has been many years in the making, and I am incredibly grateful to our contributors and colleagues who made it possible!

📘 The Handbook of Social Networks and the Environment is now available here.

For more details, visit the publisher’s page or feel free to get in touch.

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, can also produce unintended social or ecological consequences if implemented without careful attention to local dynamics.

This Decade Action aims to support the responsible scaling of NbS in vulnerable regions, with an emphasis on conflict sensitivity, inclusion, and long-term sustainability.

Hosted by the Ocean Decade Programme on Sustainable Ocean Planning, led by UNESCO Ocean, the project is spearheaded by PhD student Luisa Bedoya Taborda. Her work explores how NbS can contribute to more equitable and conflict-sensitive adaptation in vulnerable coastal regions.

Learn more about the project here.

Contributing to Global Guidance on Resilience Science

June 2025

In June, I had the privilege of traveling to Stockholm to take part in the Resilience Science Must-Knows workshop – a global initiative designed to bridge the gap between resilience research and real-world decision-making.

Led by the Global Resilience Partnership, the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and Future Earth, this initiative brings together researchers and practitioners from across disciplines and regions to co-develop a set of clear, science-backed “must-knows” to support actionable resilience strategies.

As a member of the editorial board, I am working with an incredible team to synthesize cutting-edge knowledge and identify priorities that can guide policy, planning, and practice in a time of compounding global crises.

This effort:

  • Identifies key knowledge gaps and emerging priorities.
  • Translates resilience science into practical, decision-ready insights.
  • Connects a global network of experts, institutions, and change agents.

I am honoured to contribute to this work and excited about the potential it holds for supporting system-wide transformation toward a more just and resilient future.

Learn more about the initiative here.