About SocSES
The journey to establish a Society for Social-Ecological Systems (SES) research and practice has been a decades-long evolution, shaped by groundbreaking ideas, interdisciplinary innovation, and global collaboration. SocSES represents a new chapter in the development of the SES field, providing an intellectual and professional home for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers dedicated to advancing sustainability.
Co-led by the Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) and the Resilience Alliance, along with other partners, SocSES launched with a 2-3 year founding phase during which it is being co-developed with a wider community through collaborative opportunities and task forces.
Our Mission and Values
SocSES advances understanding of complex social-ecological systems dynamics, fosters collaboration among researchers and practitioners, supports the next generation of sustainability leaders, and leverages research for policy impact.
The society is committed to embracing diverse knowledge frameworks, particularly those from the Global South, while maintaining a coherent identity across its work. SocSES values innovative knowledge co-production and dissemination, promotes inclusive learning spaces beyond traditional education, and champions environmentally sustainable networking practices that address inequities in academic opportunities.
Objectives
- Advance understanding of complex, social-ecological systems dynamics to support a just and sustainable future for people and nature.
- Provide a home community where researchers, practitioners, and other knowledge holders from across the world can learn from one another and forge new collaborations.
- Support training of the next generation of sustainability researchers and leaders.
- Advocate for funding for inter and transdisciplinary social-ecological systems research.
- Impact policy and practice by leveraging SES research
Key Principles
- Encourage diverse frameworks, knowledge streams and values, particularly from the Global South, to understand the dynamics of SES and address global challenges.
- Encourage diverse methodological approaches, while supporting cross-cutting knowledge development.
- Support new ways of (co)-producing and disseminating knowledge, focusing on outputs, spaces and processes that can inform and support policy and practice.
- Develop learning spaces that transcend current formal offerings, while supporting the development of SES education in formal educational spaces, particularly in the Global South.
- Thoughtful networking in an environmentally sustainable way, recognizing and addressing inequities in networking and publishing opportunities.
What We Do
We function mainly through smaller collaborative groups, which undertake a diverse range of activities.
Knowledge leadership in advancing the SES research and practice
Support collaborations through working group activities and collaborative projects
Networking opportunities
including conferences, discussion fora, and working groups
Policy impact through an authoritative voice in policy and funder networks
Educational activities such as short courses and summer schools
Educational resources such as handbooks and websites
Mainstream SES thinking through popular and social media
Advocate for funding and recognition of SES research
Publishing opportunities by partnering with high impact, open access journals
Facilitate funding opportunities to support collaborative initiatives
Why SocSES? And why now?
Social-ecological systems (SES) research helps us understand the complex and dynamic relationships between people and nature – from climate adaptation and biodiversity loss to food systems, livelihoods, and cultural values. Over the past three decades, SES has grown from a set of pioneering ideas into a vibrant, globally connected field. Today, researchers and practitioners across disciplines and regions use SES approaches to address pressing sustainability challenges, often through long-term collaborations, place-based knowledge, and engagement with diverse communities.
But as the field has matured, so too have its challenges. Despite its reach, SES research remains institutionally fragmented, reliant on temporary networks and precarious funding. While its influence in policy and practice is growing, it lacks a stable home – one that can coordinate learning, support younger researchers, and amplify collective impact. Power imbalances and structural inequalities, especially between the Global North and South, continue to shape whose voices and values are recognized. And the very complexity that makes SES research valuable – its embrace of diverse knowledge systems, feedbacks, and real-world challenges – also creates tensions that require shared spaces for reflection, coherence, and ethical engagement.
This is the moment that gave rise to the Social-Ecological Systems Society (SocSES).
SocSES is not a replacement for existing SES networks and initiatives, but a unifying platform designed to support them. It offers an institutional home for a field that is both deeply grounded and rapidly expanding. Anchored in values of inclusion, justice, and methodological innovation, the Society is building the scaffolding needed to connect researchers, practitioners, and educators across contexts. It aims to foster synthesis without simplification, grow impact without centralizing control, and support rigorous, relational work that meets the urgency of the Anthropocene.
This accompanying paper explains why SocSES is needed, where it comes from, and what it hopes to do. It traces the historical evolution of the field, outlines the challenges and opportunities we face, and introduces the society’s goals, structures, and next steps. The paper – and this website – also offer tools for engagement: a map of SES institutions and multilingual abstracts you can add to! We hope it sparks not just reflection, but renewed energy for co-creating a more connected, resilient, and transformative SES community.
Figure: Summary of key challenges in the SES field and how SocSES addresses them.
Why SocSES, and Why Now?
Social-ecological systems (SES) research helps us understand the complex and dynamic relationships between people and nature – from climate adaptation and biodiversity loss to food systems, livelihoods, and cultural values. Over the past three decades, SES has grown from a set of pioneering ideas into a vibrant, globally connected field. Today, researchers and practitioners across disciplines and regions use SES approaches to address pressing sustainability challenges, often through long-term collaborations, place-based knowledge, and engagement with diverse communities.
But as the field has matured, so too have its challenges. Despite its reach, SES research remains institutionally fragmented, reliant on temporary networks and precarious funding. While its influence in policy and practice is growing, it lacks a stable home – one that can coordinate learning, support younger researchers, and amplify collective impact. Power imbalances and structural inequalities, especially between the Global North and South, continue to shape whose voices and values are recognized. And the very complexity that makes SES research valuable – its embrace of diverse knowledge systems, feedbacks, and real-world challenges – also creates tensions that require shared spaces for reflection, coherence, and ethical engagement.
This is the moment that gave rise to the Social-Ecological Systems Society (SocSES).
SocSES is not a replacement for existing SES networks and initiatives, but a unifying platform designed to support them. It offers an institutional home for a field that is both deeply grounded and rapidly expanding. Anchored in values of inclusion, justice, and methodological innovation, the Society is building the scaffolding needed to connect researchers, practitioners, and educators across contexts. It aims to foster synthesis without simplification, grow impact without centralizing control, and support rigorous, relational work that meets the urgency of the Anthropocene.
This accompanying paper explains why SocSES is needed, where it comes from, and what it hopes to do. It traces the historical evolution of the field, outlines the challenges and opportunities we face, and introduces the society’s goals, structures, and next steps. The paper – and this website – also offer tools for engagement: a map of SES institutions and multilingual abstracts you can add to! We hope it sparks not just reflection, but renewed energy for co-creating a more connected, resilient, and transformative SES community.
Figure: Summary of key challenges in the SES field and how SocSES addresses them