Resilient development in social ecological systems

Resilience is the ability of a system to absorb disturbance and still retain its basic function and structure. It involves three properties: the amount of change a system can undergo; the degree to which it can re-organise; and the degree to which the system can build capacity and learn to adapt. Resilience is therefore about how to understand and manage change, and about working with change rather than trying to maintain equilibrium.
Resilience concepts have been applied across social and natural sciences and are currently gaining popularity in many policy circles, where resilience is presented as a normative goal.
Research under the fellowship will develop a deeper and broader social science understanding of resilience and how the concept is applied in analysing linked social-ecological systems. It will do this by drawing on theory across a range of social science disciplines, synthesising recent research findings and undertaking new empirical investigation of resilience. It will produce a book – provisionally titled 'Towards Resilient Development' – and a series of scientific papers. In extending social science perspectives on resilience, and the cultural and social dynamics of resilience, the research will inform knowledge on how societies can better respond to environmental change.