Thematic Streams

Transformative arts-based methods

This working group explores the transformative role of arts-based methods in social-ecological systems (SES) research. Arts-based methods – such as storytelling, music, theatre, and design – are increasingly used to facilitate communication, foster diverse knowledge exchange, and support collective learning. These methods help transcend disciplinary and epistemological boundaries, centering affect, care, and wellbeing in research while promoting more inclusive and equitable responses to SES challenges.

The working group seeks to create a space to examine how arts-based methods align with SES research, support transformative inquiry, and challenge hierarchical and colonial tendencies in the field. It also considers ethical and place-based participatory research approaches. Through reading groups, webinars, and hands-on sessions, the working group will explore how arts-based methods have been applied in SES research, drawing insights from literature and experts beyond the SocSES community. Ultimately, the working group seeks to inspire researchers to integrate these methods into their own work.

SES research methods community of practice

The SES Research Methods Community of Practice working group aims to advance social-ecological systems (SES) research by fostering methodological innovation, capacity building, and collaboration. It addresses key challenges such as the lack of standardized methods, limited methodological training, and the need for critical engagement with epistemological and ontological assumptions. The working group provides a supportive space for researchers to learn from both successes and failures, select appropriate methodologies, and navigate ethical and scientific rigor.

Through mentorship programs, hackathons, short courses, masterclasses, and seminars, the working group promotes knowledge sharing and interdisciplinary engagement. It contributes to academic outputs, including research papers, updated volumes of The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods for Social-Ecological Systems, and improvements to the SES Methods website. By creating a collaborative knowledge commons and encouraging experimentation, the working group strengthens the global SES community, fosters innovative research, and nurtures the next generation of SES scholars and practitioners through both formal and informal learning opportunities.

Embedded in change: transdisciplinary transformations research and practice

This working group focuses on the ethical complexities of transdisciplinary transformations research in social-ecological systems (SES). Unlike conventional SES research, which often takes a neutral, observational stance, transdisciplinary transformations research actively engages in sustainability challenges, requiring deep collaboration with diverse stakeholders. However, this immersion raises critical ethical dilemmas, such as navigating power asymmetries, ensuring non-extractive co-production, and balancing impact with ethical commitments to justice and inclusivity.

By creating a dedicated space within SocSES, this working group explores the lived ethical tensions of engaged scholars and practitioners. Through dialogues, case-based reflections, and collaborative workshops, it will generate actionable insights, tools, and methodologies for ethically grounded transformations research. Key topics include epistemic justice, researcher reflexivity, and the politics of participation. The group aims to bridge SocSES with broader transformation networks, fostering a deeper, practice-oriented understanding of ethics in knowledge co-production for sustainability transitions.

Integrating human well-being into SES monitoring

This working group focuses on integrating human wellbeing indicators into social-ecological system (SES) monitoring to enhance adaptive, ecosystem-based management. While there is growing recognition of the need to assess social outcomes alongside ecological data, guidance on developing and implementing wellbeing indicators remains limited. This working group facilitates knowledge exchange on designing, localizing, and evaluating these indicators across diverse resource and geographic contexts.

The group aims to build a collaborative network of researchers and practitioners, fostering innovation in social-ecological monitoring. It will share best practices, empirical examples, and lessons learned while co-developing databases, decision-support tools, and synthesis papers to support policymakers and managers. A key focus is bridging biophysical and social data, addressing integration challenges, and strengthening interdisciplinary skills. By promoting co-production between researchers and resource managers, enhancing data transparency, and improving measurement consistency, the working group seeks to advance holistic SES monitoring and support more effective sustainability policies and practices.

Collaborative governance in SES

The Collaborative Governance (CG) working group focuses on advancing research, teaching, and real-world applications of CG in social-ecological systems (SES). It integrates academic research, university-level teaching, and practitioner engagement to address environmental and sustainability challenges through transdisciplinary approaches.

The working group fosters cutting-edge research by exploring diverse theoretical perspectives – including feminist, decolonial, and political ecology approaches – and applying them to real-world collaborations. It investigates factors enabling governance diversity, power-sharing, and collective agency, while also addressing digital justice and AI ethics in governance. Methodologically, the group employs multi-method approaches, including network analysis, ethnography, Indigenous-led research, and case studies across various domains like protected areas, urban governance, and agriculture.

Beyond academia, the working group bridges research and practice through knowledge hubs, policy briefs, and collaborative partnerships. By integrating research, teaching, and outreach, it aims to provide actionable insights for policymakers, practitioners, and scholars to enhance collaborative governance in diverse contexts.

Nature-based transformations: Evolving human-nature interactions under changing climate

This working group explores Nature-Based Transformation (NBT) as a strategy to address global challenges, such as climate change and biodiversity loss, by fostering sustainable human-nature interactions. While NBT is recognized as essential for sustainability, research has been largely localized, lacking a structured, evidence-based understanding of how to scale successful initiatives across regions and institutions.

The group aims to analyze NBT processes – including governance, decision-making, and social learning – and assess their outcomes on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and adaptation. It will also examine the social-ecological networks driving transformative change and identify global NBT archetypes to support scaling strategies. Additionally, the working group seeks to bridge the knowledge-action gap through Living Labs, fostering collaboration between researchers and practitioners. By linking theory with practice, this effort will provide pathways to expand and sustain NBT initiatives, ensuring inclusive, evidence-based approaches that contribute to global sustainability transformations.

Sustainability transformations towards ocean equity

This working group focuses on developing and applying indicators to advance ocean equity in marine conservation and sustainability. Building on findings from the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment (TCA), the group collaborates with scientists, the WWF, and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) to ensure inclusive, just, and effective governance of marine biodiversity.

Recognizing the inequitable distribution of ocean resources, benefits, and harms, the group aims to institutionalize ocean equity through research, workshops, and place-based studies. It will analyze initiatives with transformative potential, ensuring that equity assessments inform corrective actions in governance and policy. Since no single framework fits all contexts, the working group will develop adaptable assessment approaches to address diverse social and ecological settings. By synthesizing existing knowledge and engaging in interdisciplinary collaborations, the group seeks to drive sustainability transformations that support both human well-being and ocean health, creating actionable pathways for more equitable marine governance.

Urban resilience

This working group explores urban resilience through a Social-Ecological-Technological Systems (SETS) lens to address sustainability challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and social inequities. By integrating insights from social and natural sciences, engineering, and futures thinking, the group examines the drivers of urban transformation and governance processes that enable or hinder resilience.

The group will conduct conceptual syntheses, comparative case studies, and participatory research to understand how resilience is enacted in diverse urban contexts. Key objectives include advancing theoretical and empirical insights on urban resilience, developing futures-oriented approaches for scenario planning, and fostering transdisciplinary dialogue to bridge research, policy, and practice.

By refining frameworks for urban transformation and engaging with communities, the working group aims to equip cities with adaptive and transformative pathways toward sustainability. This initiative builds on prior research from PECS and the Resilience Alliance, contributing to a new generation of urban resilience scholarship and practice.

Cross-scale resilience in rangelands

This working group focuses on advancing the resilience of rangelands in social-ecological systems (SES) by synthesizing insights from diverse case studies. Rangelands are vital ecosystems supporting livelihoods, biodiversity, and agricultural production, yet they remain understudied compared to other landscapes. The group will explore key resilience drivers, adaptive strategies, and governance structures across different regions to develop transferable lessons for sustainable rangeland management.

Using resilience thinking, complexity theory, and panarchy frameworks, the working group will examine cross-scale interactions influencing rangeland sustainability, from local grazing practices to global policy impacts. Key topics include adaptation mechanisms, governance influences, conflict resolution strategies, and the role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK).

A central output will be a case study repository showcasing resilience strategies in rangelands, informing policies and management approaches. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, this effort aims to enhance rangeland sustainability while contributing to global discussions, including the 2026 International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.

Artificial intelligence in resilience (AIR)

The Artificial Intelligence in Resilience (AIR) working group explores the innovative application of AI to enhance the resilience of interconnected social-ecological systems (SES). In response to climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion, the group aims to harness AI for better understanding, prediction, and management of complex environmental and social dynamics.

Key areas of focus include ecological modeling, adaptive resource management, disaster response, and community resilience. By integrating AI with diverse data sources – such as satellite imagery and socio-economic indicators – the working group seeks to develop predictive tools and dynamic decision-support systems that help stakeholders mitigate risks and optimize resource use.

The group prioritizes ethical AI practices, ensuring transparency, inclusivity, and ecological sustainability to prevent unintended harm. Through interdisciplinary collaboration among AI researchers, ecologists, social scientists, and policymakers, the working group will foster knowledge exchange and develop scalable, equitable solutions that empower communities to build resilience in the face of global change.

Social-ecological resilience: metrics and modelling

This working group aims to advance resilience theory by developing and applying innovative quantitative metrics and models for social-ecological systems. While resilience is a key concept in sustainability research, measuring it remains challenging, often lacking strong connections to resilience theory. This group seeks to bridge this gap by refining existing approaches and introducing novel methodologies, such as pathway diversity and active inference, to assess resilience across different scales—from local communities to the global level.

Through interdisciplinary collaboration, the working group will explore modeling techniques, including dynamic systems, agent-based models, and AI-driven statistical models, to enhance the operational use of resilience in decision-making and policy design. Additionally, the group will support early-career researchers in applying resilience concepts within quantitative frameworks. By fostering methodological innovation and theoretical clarity, this working group will contribute to the practical application of resilience science in guiding the management of social-ecological systems.

Seeds and plural pathways to transformative change

This working group explores the role of “seeds” – local innovations with transformative potential – in driving systemic change toward a more just and sustainable future. Building on the Seeds of Good Anthropocenes (SoGA) initiative, the group aims to understand how small-scale initiatives can scale up, out, or deep to influence broader social-ecological transformations.

By fostering collaboration among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners, the working group will examine key factors that enable or hinder the growth of seed initiatives, the capacities required for transformative change, and the justice and equity implications of these dynamics. The group also supports early-career professionals and maintains a shared database of seed initiatives for comparative analysis.

Through participatory scenario-building methods, such as the Mānoa method and the Nature Futures Framework, the working group will develop diverse, bottom-up visions for more sustainable futures and provide insights into how grassroots innovations can shape global transformations.

Regenerative social-ecological systems

The Regenerative SES working group focuses on advancing regeneration as a scientific concept within social-ecological systems. In response to the global polycrisis, where interconnected feedback loops drive unsustainability, regeneration offers a promising framework for fostering resilience and sustainability.

The group aims to refine existing conceptual frameworks on regeneration and generate empirical evidence from diverse contexts. By fostering interdisciplinary exchange, it seeks to develop a rigorous understanding of regenerative processes and how they can be operationalized for research and practice.

Additionally, the working group will evaluate social-ecological research methods to determine their suitability for studying regeneration, with a focus on cross-domain and cross-scale interactions. A key outcome will be the creation of a global database of regenerative case studies to facilitate comparative analysis. Ultimately, this initiative aspires to establish regeneration as a practical and scientifically robust approach for addressing sustainability challenges.

Values-based transformative change for human-nature relationships

This working group explores how relational thinking and transdisciplinary research can integrate diverse values of nature to drive transformative change toward just and sustainable human-nature relationships. Recognizing that biodiversity loss and climate crises stem from a values crisis, the group examines how marginalized or neglected values – such as biocultural diversity, customary rights, relational values, and traditional knowledge – can be surfaced and mobilized in decision-making and conservation efforts.

By using a value-based approach, the working group will reflect on fundamental questions about how and why people relate to nature and identify values as deep leverage points for transformation. A key focus is on the role of neglected voices, knowledge systems, worldviews and values in shaping sustainable and just futures.

Through novel approaches and transdisciplinary collaboration, the group aims to bridge science, practice, and policy to mainstream diverse values of nature across multiple levels, ensuring place-based impacts and contributing to global sustainability discussions.

Communities of practice in action

This working group focuses on fostering Communities of Practice (CoP) within the SocSES networks, supporting social-ecological systems (SES) researchers – particularly Early Career Professionals (ECPs) – by building trust-centric, reciprocal spaces for collaboration and support. Expanding on the Resilience Alliance Young Scholars (RAYS) CoP, established in 2022, this group will share insights and methodologies for creating and maintaining virtual and in-person communities.

The working group emphasizes creativity and accessibility through initiatives like podcast creation, charter development, and innovative autoethnographic analysis – a method exploring how participating in supportive communities influences members’ engagement with SES research, policy, and practice. It aims to provide tangible resources, including guidance on charter creation, effective online meeting formats, and relationship-building strategies for diverse, inclusive, and just communities.

By sharing experiences and tools, this working group seeks to strengthen researcher resilience, enhance collaboration, and support the formation of new CoPs, addressing the challenge of geographical and institutional disconnectedness in global SES research.

Navigating ethical place-based research

This working group focuses on advancing ethical place-based research (PBR) in social-ecological systems (SES), particularly for Early Career Professionals (ECPs). While PBR is essential for tackling complex sustainability challenges through knowledge co-production and transdisciplinary approaches, it comes with challenges such as navigating unfamiliar contexts, avoiding extractive research practices, and building trust with local communities.

The group will explore what it means to conduct ethical, impactful, and culturally sensitive PBR, ensuring research supports local communities rather than imposing external solutions. Through interactive activities, knowledge exchange, and mentorship across career stages, this working group will equip researchers with the skills to engage responsibly and reflexively in PBR.

By fostering critical reflection and shared learning, the group aims to strengthen context-relevant, solution-oriented research that amplifies marginalized voices and contributes to genuine transformative change in sustainability and equity.

Human-Nature Connectedness in Southern Africa: Leveraging multiple perspectives for SES transformations

This working group explores Nature Connectedness (NC) as a leverage point for transformative change in social-ecological systems (SES). While international research shows that strong NC can support pro-nature behaviours, well-being, and systemic change, its relevance and application in this region remains underexplored. This working group focuses on understanding diverse human-nature relationships, testing how NC benefits translate in different local contexts, and identifying practical, context-sensitive ways to integrate NC into education, health, and governance.

To support this, the group is building a reflexive, caring community of practice through monthly reflection sessions, knowledge exchanges, conference dialogues, and creative engagement tools – including a transdisciplinary toolkit, an NC archetype quiz, and interactive games. They are also developing training resources, podcasts, policy briefs, and blogs to share stories from the field and support early-career researchers. By connecting research, policy, and practice, the group aims to reframe how NC is understood and applied, and to cultivate a more grounded, inclusive, and transformative approach to sustainability.