Lecturer: Romina Martin
Fields: Environmental system science, sustainability, complexity
Content
Wicked problems and the polycrises of the Anthropocene are challenging contexts for laying out a perspective for resilient and equitable human well-being within the planetary boundaries. “Humans are embedded in the biosphere” is the underlying assumption for sustainability scientists working with resilience of social-ecological systems. This means that humans shape, for example, lakes, agricultural landscapes, forests and oceans which they in turn depend on. The emerging system dynamics are often non-linear and further influenced by shocks. How could and should this system persist, adapt or transform in order to continue providing life support functions?
This course will introduce resilience principles, complex adaptive systems and demonstrate how simulation models together with complementary methods enable research on regime shifts, poverty traps and common pool resource problems. We will use case study examples to co-develop conceptual models on paper in a participatory process. To reflect, we discuss the inter- and transdisciplinary challenges for using model simulations in resilience thinking.
Literature
- https://www.seslink.org – video on complex adaptive systems
- Schlüter, M., Haider, L., Lade, S., Lindkvist, E., Martin, R., Orach, K., Wijermans, N., Folke, C., 2019. Capturing emergent phenomena in social-ecological systems: an analytical framework. Ecology and Society 24. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11012-240311
- Martin, R., Sanga, U., 2023. Participatory modelling: Participatory research methods for sustainability ‐ toolkit #6. GAIA – Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society 32, 230–232. https://doi.org/10.14512/gaia.32.2.5
- Martin, R., Schlüter, M., Blenckner, T., 2020. The importance of transient social dynamics for restoring ecosystems beyond ecological tipping points. PNAS 117, 2717–2722. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1817154117
Lecturer
As a modeller in ecology, Romina investigates complexity in social-ecological interactions to better explain and support sustainable management and governance in European landscapes. She received her PhD 2013 in Biology in Cologne with a study on pastoral livelihood security and rangeland management in drylands using ecological-economic modelling. Since then, Romina pursued research at the Stockholm Resilience Centre on managing regime shifts at lakes, ecosystem services and sustainability transformations. She is teaching systems thinking and sustainability science on the Bachelors and Masters level. Apart from research, Romina enjoys life with her family including two kids on the island Tranholmen close to Stockholm.
Affiliation: Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University
Homepage: https://www.stockholmresilience.org/meet-our-team/staff/2013-09-12-martin.html