Social-Ecological Systems Institute (SESI)
Organisational unit: Institute
Organisation profile
Vision & Mission
We envision a fair world where the benefits generated within social-ecological systems are shared sustainably with other species, both within and across generations. Solutions to sustainability challenges are developed collaboratively across diverse scientific disciplines, knowledge systems, and social interests. To realise our vision, we recognise the need for transformative change. In pursuit of such change we:
- use place-based social-ecological systems thinking to understand and resolve sustainability challenges such as biodiversity loss and environmental injustice;
- bring together insights and approaches from the natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities in genuinely collaborative endeavours;
- integrate experiences, practices, and understandings from diverse knowledge systems;
- embed tools for transformative change into the social-ecological systems thinking via a leverage points perspective;
- develop and apply methods to bridge multiple scales and governance levels; and
- provide spaces for people sharing our vision to meet and exchange ideas.
Main research areas
We primarily conduct integrative and transdisciplinary research. In particular, the following topics are central to the Institute's research work:
- Biodiversity conservation
- Biocultural diversity
- Cross-scale governance
- Leverage points & transformation
- Ecosystem services
- Relational values
- Environmental justice
- Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
A review of urban ecosystem services: six key challenges for future research
Lüderitz, C., Brink, E., Gralla, F., Hermelingmeier, V., Rau, A.-L., Abson, D., Lang, D. J., von Wehrden, H., Wamsler, C., Sasaki, R., Partelow, S., Meyer, M., Lisa, N. & Panzer, L., 01.08.2015, In: Ecosystem Services. 14, p. 98-112 15 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Assessing nature’s contributions to people: Recognizing culture, and diverse sources of knowledge, can improve assessments
Díaz, S., Pascual, U., Stenseke, M., Martín-López, B., Watson, R. T., Molnár, Z., Hill, R., Chan, K. M. A., Baste, I. A., Brauman, K. A., Polasky, S., Church, A., Lonsdale, M., Larigauderie, A., Leadley, P. W., Van Oudenhoven, A. P. E., Van Der Plaat, F., Schröter, M., Lavorel, S., Aumeeruddy-Thomas, Y., Bukvareva, E., Davies, K., Demissew, S., Erpul, G., Failler, P., Guerra, C. A., Hewitt, C. L., Keune, H., Lindley, S. & Shirayama, Y., 19.01.2018, In: Science. 359, 6373, p. 270-272 3 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Australia’s Stock Route Network: 1. A review of its values, and implications for future management
Lentini, P. E., Fischer, J., Gibbons, P., Lindenmayer, D. & Martin, T., 08.2011, In: Ecological Management & Restoration. 12, 2, p. 119-127 9 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Biocultural approaches to sustainability: A systematic review of the scientific literature
Hanspach, J., Jamila Haider, L., Oteros-Rozas, E., Stahl Olafsson, A., Gulsrud, N. M., Raymond, C. M., Torralba, M., Martín-López, B., Bieling, C., García-Martín, M., Albert, C., Beery, T. H., Fagerholm, N., Díaz-Reviriego, I., Drews-Shambroom, A. & Plieninger, T., 09.2020, In: People and Nature. 2, 3, p. 643-659 17 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Biodiversity, ecosystem function, and resilience: ten guiding principles for commodity production landscapes
Fischer, J., Lindenmayer, D. B. & Manning, A. D., 03.2006, In: Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 4, 2, p. 80-86 7 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Biosphere Reserves as catalysts for sustainability transformations: five strategies to support place-based innovation
Dabard, C. H., Mann, C. & Martín-López, B., 01.04.2025, In: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 73, 6 p., 101508.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Accepted/In press
Conceptualizing transformative climate action: insights from sufficiency research
Richard, B., Nathan, B., Andreas, N. & Ernest, A., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Climate Policy. 20 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Consequences of nuclear accidents for biodiversity and ecosystem services
von Wehrden, H., Fischer, J., Brandt, P., Wagner, V., Kümmerer, K., Kuemmerle, T., Nagel, A., Olsson, O. & Hostert, P., 01.04.2012, In: Conservation Letters. 5, 2, p. 81-89 9 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Contributions of Net-Map to sustainability action research
Cortés-Calderón, S. V., López-Rodríguez, M. D., Jiménez-Aceituno, A., Castro, A. J. & Mancilla-García, M., 08.2025, In: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 75, 101542.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Co-production of nature's contributions to people: What evidence is out there?
Kachler, J., Isaac, R., Martín-López, B., Bonn, A. & Felipe-Lucia, M. R., 01.08.2023, In: People and Nature. 5, 4, p. 1119-1134 16 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Crisis-induced disruptions in place-based social-ecological research - an opportunity for redirection
Hermans, K., Berger, E., Biber-Freudenberger, L., Bossenbroek, L., Ebeler, L., Groth, J., Hack, J., Hanspach, J., Hintz, K. S., Kimengsi, J. N., Kwong, Y. M. C., Oakes, R., Pagogna, R., Plieninger, T., Sterly, H., van der Geest, K., van Vliet, J. & Wiederkehr, C., 15.07.2021, In: GAIA. 30, 2, p. 72-76 5 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Disentangling gender and social difference for just and transformative biocultural approaches
Díaz-Reviriego, I., Torralba, M., Vizuete, B., Ortiz-Przychodzka, S., Pearson, J., Heindorf, C., LLanque Zonta, A. & Oteros-Rozas, E., 08.2024, In: People and Nature. 6, 4, p. 1394-1406 13 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Ecological quality as a coffee quality enhancer. A review
Torrez, V., Benavides-Frias, C., Jacobi, J. & Speranza, C. I., 01.02.2023, In: Agronomy for Sustainable Development. 43, 1, 34 p., 19.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- E-pub ahead of print
Exploring biocultural diversity: A systematic analysis and refined classification to inform decisions on conservation and sustainability
Otamendi-Urroz, I., Quintas-Soriano, C., Hanspach, J., Requena-Mullor, J. M., Lagies, A. S. & Castro, A. J., 16.04.2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Ambio. 17 p., e517.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Exploring the “works with nature” pillar of food sovereignty: a review of empirical cases in academic literature
Benavides-Frias, C., Ortiz Przychodzka, S., Díaz-Reviriego, I., Oteros-Rozas, E., Burke, L. & Hanspach, J., 2024, In: Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. 48, 3, p. 332-356 25 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Five priorities to advance transformative transdisciplinary research
Augenstein, K., Lam, D. P., Horcea-Milcu, A. I., Bernert, P., Charli-Joseph, L., Cockburn, J., Kampfmann, T., Pereira, L. M. & Sellberg, M. M., 01.06.2024, In: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. 68, 11 p., 101438.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
From disagreements to dialogue: unpacking the Golden Rice debate
Kettenburg, A. J., Hanspach, J., Abson, D. J. & Fischer, J., 01.09.2018, In: Sustainability Science. 13, 5, p. 1469-1482 14 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
From grief to hope in conservation
Fischer, J. & Riechers, M., 10.2021, In: Conservation Biology. 35, 5, p. 1698-1700 3 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Future-proofing ecosystem restoration through enhancing adaptive capacity
Frietsch, M., Loos, J., Löhr, K., Sieber, S. & Fischer, J., 12.2023, In: Communications Biology. 6, 1, 9 p., 377.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research
- Published
Gender und Nachhaltigkeit: Neue Forschungsperspektiven
Katz, C., 01.09.2006, In: GAIA. 15, 3, p. 206-214 9 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research