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RAYS (Resilience Alliance Young Scholars) shine at PECS-3 conference in Montreal
Sep 27, 2024 |
RA early career researcher's contributions to advancing resilience practice featured at the international PECS3 conference |
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Among the hundreds of social-ecological systems researchers gathered in Montreal this past August for the PECS - 3 conference was a group of RAYS (Resilience Alliance Young Scholars) presenting their research in a session titled "Strengthening the theoretical basis of resilience in practice". Over the course of the past three years, RAYS members have led working groups and participated in a series of workshops and meetings, as part of a project supported by the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation. The diverse set of research initiatives shared the common goal of advancing resilience practice to create more sustainable and just futures and the conference provided an important opportunity to share this work with an international network of researchers, practitioners, and peers.
In a conference blog post Madeline Sides writes "This session offered a compelling conversation between several distinct, but related researcher voices. I particularly enjoyed seeing process photos and the bigger context of how this research network was collaborating. I appreciate the efforts of these researchers to address a community-wide need to make resilience assessment theories and tools more interpretable and useable to improve the quality of our collective work."
Read the full blog post "Early Career Researchers Use Multiple Approaches Collaboratively to Strengthen Resilience in Practice" written by Madeline Sides and edited by Rafael Lembi, on the PECS website.
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Resilience Alliance Science Meeting 2024
Sep 09, 2024 |
A science meeting hosted by the RA brought together 30 researchers in Bergen Norway for 5 days of workshops and discussions focused on strengthening theory of resilience practice |
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The value of in-person meetings for an international network of researchers cannot be overstated. We made the most of this rare opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and friends, while working to share research updates and synthesize findings across a set of projects at the forefront of resilience practice.
Building on the outputs of five separate research teams that are all looking at different aspects of resilience assessment and measurement, a synthesis group began the process of creating a toolbox framework to guide researchers and practitioners towards selecting tools for different contexts and purposes. With six manuscripts at different stages of development, we are looking forward to sharing this work over the coming months.
A strength of the RA has always been how the network brings together researchers at different stages in their careers. The last two gatherings in particular saw most of the working groups being led by early-career researchers, providing valuable experience while also bringing forth new ideas and ways of working together and laying the foundation for continued and future collaborations.
In addition to advancing the resilience assessment toolkit, we were treated to guest presentations on place-based research while visiting the Nordhordland biosphere reserve and connecting with researchers from the University of Bergen.
The 2024 RA science meeting was made possible with support from the Vkrf Rasmussen Foundation. |
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Short course on research methods for resilience and sustainability science
Feb 02, 2024 |
Join us in Montreal for a 5-day immersive course on research methods this August 5-9. Apply online before February 29, 2024.
Note: Applications are now closed. |
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The 2024 Resilience Alliance short course is being offered in collaboration with NSERC ResNet and The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS).
We are delighted to announce that the 5-day course will take place in-person and is an official side-event of the PECS-3: Pathways to Sustainability conference taking place in Montreal, Canada the following week.
The week-long immersive course will run from August 5-9, 2024 at Le Baluchon Éco-villégiature, near Montreal, Canada. Course participants will benefit from a small-group format and an intensive learning-by-doing program that draws on the expertise of scholars in resilience and sustainability research networks.
THEME
Research methods for resilience and sustainability science. The course will focus on research methods that are commonly used in studying social-ecological systems, with a special emphasis on participatory and place-based methods. Drawing on The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods for Social-Ecological Systems, the course offers a unique opportunity to learn directly from leaders in the field, whilst connecting with other students and early-career researchers from around the world.
FORMAT
The five-day immersive course will take place at a rural eco-retreat center outside of Montreal from Monday August 5 to Friday August 9. All course participants and instructors will stay on-site at Le Baluchon (www.baluchon.com). A mix of engaging lectures and presentations will be delivered by course instructors, along with daily group project activities and scheduled outdoor time for recreation and reflection. A course pack with the detailed program, readings, and other material will be shared in advance. Attendees are expected to participate fully throughout the course being present for all plenary and group sessions, meals and other activities that are part of the formal program.
LECTURERS
Allyson Quinlan (Convener) - Resilience Alliance, Canada
Patty Balvanera- National University of Mexico, Mexico
Reinette Biggs - University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
Alta de Vos - Rhodes University, South Africa
Lance Gunderson - Emory University, USA
Garry Peterson - Stockholm Resilience Center, Sweden
HOW TO APPLY
Post-graduate students including PhD, Post-docs and early-career researchers are invited to apply by completing the online application form. We are seeking to gather a diverse team of participants from across the globe, with diverse disciplinary backgrounds. We want to know your motivations for participating in the course and what you will bring to the group. Submit your application here: https://forms.gle/1RQaxCWqvugCfzZK9
Application deadline is February 29, 2024.
COST
We are offering a sliding course fee structure. The full course cost is $2000 USD per participant. A number of partial and full scholarships are currently available and we are seeking additional sources of funding to ensure inclusivity. If accepted, a course deposit of $500 USD will be due by March 29. Course fees cover: chartered bus between Montreal and Le Baluchon, 5 days and 4 nights accommodation in a single occupancy room, all meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner and coffee breaks), outdoor activities, meeting space and course instruction.
MORE INFORMATION
Visit: www.resalliance.org/courses
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Pathways to Sustainability: Social-ecological resilience and transformation across multiple scales
Oct 18, 2023 |
The Resilience Alliance is thrilled to be co-hosting the next PECS-3 conference in Montreal, Canada. Visit the conference website for more information. |
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Welcome to Pathways to Sustainability:
Social-ecological resilience
and transformation across multiple scales
We are excited to invite the world's foremost thinkers and advocates of place-based social-ecological scholarship to PECS3 in Montreal Canada (12-15 August 2024) to share ideas on how to transform sustainable development to better contend with the challenges of the Anthropocene informed by issues and solutions in multiple knowledges and values. This conference is co-hosted by The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society, the Resilience Alliance, and NSERC ResNet.
Visit the conference website: www.pecs2024.com
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Resilience Alliance Annual Science Meeting
Jun 06, 2023 |
The RA research network held a 4-day science meeting in Oracle, Arizona last month to advance projects on the theme of resilience assessment. |
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The annual science meeting was finally back to an in-person event and provided an opportunity for members of the Resilience Alliance network to make progress on projects and working groups supported by a grant from The Rasmussen Foundation. A multi-year project "Strengthening the theoretical basis of resilience in practice", aims to develop a toolbox for resilience measurement and assessment that can advance resilience scholarship and real-world practice.
A key component of this project involves support for early-career researchers to develop international working groups to collaborate on multi-disciplinary research initiatives. The science meeting provided an opportunity for these research teams to work together in person as well as form new working groups under the broad theme of resilience practice. Focus topics include: modelling and measuring resilience, a review of resilience assessment guides, AI applications in social-ecological systems, building a community of practice for applying resilience thinking, exploring pathway diversity, spatial regimes and leading indicators, and dealing with entrenched systems.
A local field visit to Biosphere 2 proved both entertaining and insightful! |
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Applied Panarchy: Applications and Diffusion across Disciplines
Apr 19, 2022 |
Edited by: Gunderson, L., C.R. Allen and A.S. Garmestani |
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From the publishers website: https://islandpress.org/books/applied-panarchy
Panarchy was coined by combining the Greek god of nature (Pan) with the Greek word arkos for rules. Thus, panarchy is "nature's rules" and provides a framework to understand change in social-ecological systems and for managing complex environmental issues. Panarchy represents a means for managing the issues that emerge from the interaction between people and nature. That interaction sometimes generates surprises, often the result of slow changes that can accumulate and unexpectedly shift a linked system of humans and nature into a qualitatively different regime (e.g., coral reef systems shifting from coral-dominated to algal-dominated). That regime may be not only impoverished, but also effectively irreversible. Thus, understanding how such change occurs, within and across scales, is critical to achieving a sustainable society. Applied Panarchy explores how these concepts have diffused to relevant academic disciplines in environmental, social and ecological sciences, as well as applied fields of law, policy, economics, engineering, and resource management. Such understanding has influenced the practice, governance and management of our planet and has critical importance moving forward in the Anthropocene.
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NEW - The Routledge Handbook for Research Methods of Social-Ecological Systems
Aug 18, 2021 |
Open-access book targets students and researchers of social-ecological systems, offering the first comprehensive guide to SES research methods. |
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Published in July 2021, The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods for Social-Ecological Systems, will be of great interest to students, lecturers and researchers working on SES. The highly anticipated book has been in development for several years, engaging 97 authors from across the globe and a team of editors who are leading experts in the field.
The long overdue handbook provides an introduction to SES research that includes its complexity-based foundations, before moving on to systematically present twenty-eight chapters of research methods specifically used in SES research under four main headings: Methods for data generation and systems scoping, Methods for knowledge co-production and effecting system change, Methods of analyzing systems - system components and linkages, Methods for anlysing systems - system dynamics. A final chapter offers a synthesis and looks toward emerging frontiers in SES research methods.
An open-access pdf version of the handbook is available for free and can be downloaded at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003021339.
Reinette (Oonsie) Biggs, who edited the book along with Alta de Vos, Rika Preiser, Hayley Clements, Kristine Maciejewski, and Maja Schlüter, presents an introduction to the handbook here on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZJBtBFLUew.
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The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods for Social-Ecological Systems. Edited by Reinette Biggs, Alta de Vos, Rika Preiser, Hayley Clements, Kristine Maciejewski, and Maja Schlüter. 2022. Routledge, New York, NY.
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Resilience as pathway diversity: linking systems, individual, and temporal perspectives on resilience
Nov 19, 2020 |
RA members Steven Lade, Brian Walker & Jamila Haider propose a new approach to assessing resilience using the concept of pathway diversity. |
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New research published in Ecology and Society demonstrates how the concept of pathway diversity can be used to quantify social-ecological resilience. Steven Lade along with colleagues Brian Walker and Jamila Haider, have developed a model of resilience that takes into account how actions taken now can create feedbacks that constrain or enhance the availability of options currently, as well as into the future, thus altering the number and variety of available future pathways. This novel approach to both conceptualizing and measuring resilience promises to advance both theory and practice.
Full reference:
Lade, S. J., B. H. Walker, and L. J. Haider. 2020. Resilience as pathway diversity: linking systems, individual, and temporal perspectives on resilience. Ecology and Society 25(3):19.
https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11760-250319
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Identifying pathways to reduce discrepancies between desired and provided ecosystem services
May 26, 2020 |
McGill University researcher Dalal Hanna, along with her co-authors, present a case study from the Outaouais region of Québec, Canada. |
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Recently published in the journal Ecosystem Services, the paper describes a framework and process for shedding light on actor's disatisfaction with the type, amount or quality of ecosystem services available to them. Through a combination of a survey and workshop, the authors identify actions that can be taken to address the discrepancies between desired and provided ecosystem services.
Working with local organizations and diverse stakeholders, and deliberately designing a process to enable learning and the co-production of knowledge, the researchers hope that this type of approach can reduce conflict among actors and more generally foster better relationships between people and nature.
Reference:
Hanna, Dalal, D.J. Roux, B. Currie, and E.M. Bennett. 2020. Identifying pathways to reduce discrepancies between desired and provided ecosystem services. Ecosystem Services 43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2020.101119
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Coerced regimes: management challenges in the Anthropocene
Apr 03, 2020 |
In the latest issue of Ecology & Society David Angeler and colleagues introduce the term 'coerced regimes' to describe systems propped up by management inputs. |
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RA members Dirac Twidwell and Craig Allen are contributing authors on a recent paper in E&S that explores the idea of coerced regimes, that may result from a 'command and control' style of management. The concept of maintaining systems through constant management to support a desirable regime (e.g., in the sense of supplying a flow of goods and services) has been approached from different scientific fields in the past and the authors assert that this new concept of coerced regimes "motivates discussions about what we know and envision versus what we do not know and therefore cannot envision". This line of research helps direct attention at social dynamics as part of the feedbacks of managed social-ecological systems.
Reference:
Angeler, D. G., B. C. Chaffin, S. M. Sundstrom, A. Garmestani, K. L. Pope, D. Uden, D. Twidwell, and C. R. Allen. 2020. Coerced regimes: management challenges in the Anthropocene. Ecology and Society 25(1):4.
https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11286-250104
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