Current Research Projects
What guides our work
We are a force for joy. Our research, at the intersection of human wellbeing, environmental sustainability, and justice, is aimed at understanding and facilitating joyful relationships between humans and their environment. Specifically, we seek to understand
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how human wellbeing changes with global environmental change and adaptation, particularly for rural and environmentally dependent communities
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how to best integrate diverse data to holistically understand complex socio-environmental systems
Climate Adaptation & Resilience
Sense of Place, Drought, and Climate Adaptation in the West
In collaboration with Western Water Assessment, we are conducting research to understand how communities in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah are experiencing drought and water scarcity. We are specifically focused on the role of social network and the nature of sense of place, the relationships, feelings, emotions, etc. we have in connection to a specific location. We hope to understand how sense of place is changing under drought conditions and what this means for climate adaptation and resilience in the region.
Rural Livelihoods and Climate Adaptation in eSwatini
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In Southern Africa, climate change threatens human health and wellbeing and the sustainability of natural landscapes. We have studied climate adaptation and human wellbeing in eSwatini to understand what influences successful adaptation to drought, focusing on the role of social capital, perceptions of risk, and impacts to nutrition.
Equity & Flood adaptation in New York State
Climate adaptation has become an important focal point for local decision-makers in communities around the world. However, Strategies and policies aimed at increasing resilience have the potential to exacerbate existing social-inequities if they are not designed to yield equitable distributions of costs and benefits. In a project funded and facilitated by The Nature Conservancy, we are conducting an equity analysis of flood adaptation strategies in coastal and riverine communities in New York State. Read the final report for that research project here.
Graduate student research on climate adaptation and resilience
Several WELS group students are conducting research related to climate adaptation and resilience across the world. Click on the links below to learn more
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Natalie Bennet is exploring how national park managers adapt to climate change under uncertain conditions. She's also exploring the sociopsychological aspects of wildfire adaptation
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Emma Galofre Garcia is studying bison ecology and climate change, to better understand how bison conservation can support climate resilience
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Samina Islam is studying rural migration, climate change, and gender dynamics amongst communities in Bangladesh
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Kathryn Sullivan is studying the development of community wildfire protection plans to understand how to better integrate community needs for more equitable resilience planning