Faculty of Forestry
Social-Ecological Systems Research Group
Welcome to the SES Research Group!
We conduct problem-focussed, interdisciplinary research relating to climate change adaptation, natural resources conservation, and wildfire. Our work is grounded in the environmental social sciences and centers on understanding how human behavioural, cultural, and governance dimensions drive change in social-ecological systems along particular pathways, and how these pathways might be restored or transformed to better serve communities, stakeholders and society.
Embracing Complexity
From protected areas to community forests, humans are an integral and inextricable part of ever-changing conservation and natural resource systems. Developing policies and management actions for social-ecological systems that are responsive to global change drivers requires careful attention to the different ways that individuals and groups interact with and value non-human nature, the various governance approaches that underpin dominant and emerging solutions, and the knowledge(s) that inform preferred (and contested) decision pathways. Our research embraces this complexity and seeks to connect its implications to decision-making.
Currently our work focusses on the follow research themes:
• Conservation Adaptation and Transformation
• Knowledge Governance at the Science-Policy Interface
• Eco-cultural Restoration and Stewardship
• Biotechnology and Forest Resources Management
Approach
Our research hinges on a commitment to empiricism in its diverse forms. We use both qualitative and quantitative data derived from researcher-driven and collaborative and community-driven strategies of inquiry. Ultimately, we aim to practice meaningful, ethically responsible research in the service of better understanding and responding to the complex environmental challenges
facing society.