MIT student research visit to the SDEC Lab

In July, Zoe Awa, an undergraduate mechanical engineering student from MIT, joined the SDEC Lab for a research visit. During her time with the lab, she worked closely with the PhD candidate Luisa Bedoya Taborda and postdoctoral researcher Henry Bartelet, contributing to several ongoing research activities.

A key focus of her visit was supporting data processing and analysis and improving workflows for working with large-scale research data. This included helping to streamline processes for screening studies for literature reviews and organising and analysing secondary databases. Her contributions provided valuable support to ongoing projects and helped the team explore more efficient approaches to data-intensive research.

Beyond the research, the visit was also a great opportunity to share life in Sydney. Alongside time in the lab, the team found opportunities to get out and explore some places in the city. 

The SDEC Lab Joins the School of Life and Environmental Sciences

We are excited to share that the Social Dynamics and Environmental Change Lab has joined the School of Life and Environmental Sciences (SOLES) in the Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney. For a team working at the interface of people and ecosystems, this feels like coming home. We are now part of a community of ecologists, marine scientists, conservation biologists, and environmental scientists, and we look forward to the collaborations and contributions ahead toward building a more just and resilient future for both people and nature.

Our new home is a beautiful heritage sandstone building on the ridge beside the University’s Quadrangle. Long before these walls were built, this hill was a sacred site of teaching and continuous knowledge-sharing for the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of this land. It is a privilege to continue learning and sharing knowledge in this place, and we do so with deep respect and gratitude. A warm thank you to everyone at SOLES and the Faculty of Science for the welcome — here’s to the next chapter.

Michele Barnes at Raising the Bar: The Hidden Connections Behind Climate Resilience

On May 7, 2026, Associate Professor Michele Barnes took the stage at the Bank Hotel in Newtown for a Raising the Bar public talk, exploring one of the most overlooked dimensions of climate resilience: our connections with people and the natural world. Drawing on her research with coastal and resource-dependent communities across Australia and internationally, Michele made the case that when disaster strikes, resilience often comes down not to emergency plans, but to the strength and structure of our social and ecological networks — who we know, what information flows between us, and how resources move through communities in times of crisis.

Michele’s work maps how patterns of connection between people, organisations, and ecosystems shape our ability to respond to and recover from climate change, and why some people are well-positioned to adapt while others are left exposed. The talk offered a compelling and accessible window into this research for a public audience, sparking conversation about what it really means to build climate-resilient communities — and why the most powerful adaptation strategy might be simpler than we think.

Safer Beaches, Healthier Oceans: Carmen Dobszewicz on Electric Shark Deterrents

At the 2026 National Water Safety Summit, PhD candidate Carmen Dobszewicz served as a panel speaker on shark bite mitigation, sharing insights from her PhD research on electric shark deterrents. Carmen discussed how non-lethal technologies, such as personal electric deterrents, can contribute to beach safety as part of a multi-layered risk management approach, complementing other measures that help people enjoy coastal environments more safely.

A key message of the presentation was that effective beach safety and marine conservation can be achieved together. As a non-lethal mitigation tool, electric shark deterrents offer an example of how emerging technologies can reduce the risk of shark-human interactions while supporting healthy marine ecosystems and fostering long-term coexistence between people and wildlife.

PhD Scholarship: Social Networks for Disaster Preparedness and Climate Resilience

Applications for this PhD position are now closed. Thank you for your interest.

Come join us! We are recruiting a fully funded PhD student at the University of Sydney to join an ARC Discovery Project examining how personal networks shape disaster preparedness and climate resilience.

The project combines large-scale survey data, fieldwork across Australia, and advanced statistical network modelling to understand how personal networks and human-environment relationships influence how communities prepare for and respond to environmental hazards.

The successful candidate will join the Social Dynamics and Environmental Change Lab and work with collaborators at the University of Sydney, Queensland University of Technology, and the University of New South Wales.

Full details in the PDF below:

USYD PhD Scholarship – A.Prof Barnes_2026_finalDownload

Key Details

Location: University of Sydney (in gorgeous Sydney – photo proof below)

Scholarship: Fully funded (stipend + tuition)

Application deadline: 25 March 2026

How to apply: find the full application details in the downloadable PDF above.

Field Research in Colombia’s Caribbean coast

SDEC Lab PhD candidate Luisa Fernanda Bedoya Taborda recently conducted fieldwork in a coastal marsh ecosystem along Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Her research, endorsed as a UN Ocean Decade Action, examines how justice and collaborative networks shape the impacts of climate adaptation responses—including Nature-based Solutions—on social stability and conflict, and how these social dynamics, in turn, influence biodiversity outcomes. Some of the interventions in the region include mangrove restoration and climate-smart agriculture, which provide valuable context for understanding the interaction between environmental and social adaptation dimensions.

Much of the fieldwork took place on the water: travel between communities often required boats, and in some palafitic (stilt-house) villages even moving from one home to another in a canoe. These communities, living in close relationship with the marsh, revealed not only the social complexity of adaptation responses but also the biodiversity of the wetlands, from mangroves to the wildlife that inhabits these unique aquatic environments.

Who benefits from climate adaptation? Preliminary findings shared in workshops in Leyte Province, the Philippines

SDEC Lab Postdoctoral Research Fellow Henry Bartelet conducted workshops in Leyte Province, the Philippines, to report and discuss preliminary findings from the Sydney Environment Institute funded research project on “Mapping Social Networks to Understand Disparities in Who Benefits (and Who Loses) from Climate Adaptation Projects.”

This research project developed and applied a novel social network and systems mapping approach to assess how power, influence and access to adaptation resources shape adaptation project outcomes, using a pilot study on the Leyte Tide Embankment Project in the Philippines.

Four reporting workshops were held across three communities where project fieldwork was conducted across the ~40km stretch of the Leyte Tide Embankment: Tacloban, Palo, and Tanauan. These workshops were organized in collaboration with the local research partner: Eastern Visayas State University. Participation and interest in the workshop were overwhelming, with over a total of 80 participants, including fisherfolks, community members, local government officials, regional government agencies, businesses, academics, and NGOs. 

SDEC Director steps into new leadership role @ the Sydney Environment Institute

A/Prof Michele Barnes, Director of the SDEC Lab, has stepped into a Theme Lead role at the Sydney Environment Institute focused on Climate Disaster and Adaptation.

Barnes’ research brings a social–ecological systems perspective to understanding how communities and institutions respond to climate risk.

Climate disasters emerge from complex interactions between ecosystems, infrastructure, governance, and social systems, and her work examines how social relationships, institutional arrangements, and ecological dynamics shape adaptive capacity and resilience.

In this role, Barnes aims to foster interdisciplinary collaboration across the University of Sydney and beyond, connecting environmental science, social science, and policy-relevant research. The theme provides a platform to strengthen partnerships and generate actionable insights to support more effective and equitable climate adaptation.

SDEC Lab hosts Alejandro Espinosa-Rada

Recently we had the pleasure of hosting Alejandro Espinosa-Rada in the SDEC Lab during his visit to Sydney. Alejandro is an Assistant Professor in Sociology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and a Visiting Professor at KU Leuven. During his visit, we exchanged ideas on multilayer network modeling, group dynamics, and multidisciplinary

collaboration – alongside wide-ranging conversations about Australian and Chilean culture. The visit also included braving a walk in a classic Sydney heatwave for a well-earned lunch (proof in the photo!), reminding us that the best research exchanges often happen both inside and outside the lab. Alejandro is also the co-host of Knitting Networks, a bilingual podcast on social network science endorsed by the International Network for Social Network Analysis. We encourage you to check it out!

Great to host you, Alejandro!

ANSNA Garry Robins Early Career Research Award

November 2025

Congratulations to Associate Professor Michele Barnes, Director of the Social Dynamics & Environmental Change Lab, on receiving the 2025 Garry Robins Early Career Research Award from the Australian Network for Social Network Analysis.

Presented at ASNAC 2025 in Byron Bay, the award recognises an early- to mid-career scholar for outstanding contributions to the scientific study of social networks and to the Australian social network research community.

Michele received the award in recognition of her research that applies social network methods to investigate how relationships between people and nature shape sustainability outcomes, which has advanced both social network theory and empirical understanding of social–environmental change. In addition to her research contributions, she was recognized for her service as ANSNA President in 2023 and her deep commitment to supporting the next generation of researchers through supervision, mentorship, and collaborative scholarship.

Read more here.