Integrating the Human Sciences to Scale Societal Responses to Environmental Change: A Workshop

Workshop

Download PDF

Paperback - $20.70
Ebook - $17.09

Request an exam or desk copy

Responding to climate change will entail massive socio-emotional and behavioral changes. Translating policies, investments, or built infrastructure-reshaping mandates into real and sustained local impact that incorporates accountability and culture change will require hands-on work. Adaptive societal responses to climate change will succeed or fail based on the attitudes, behaviors, social cohesion and capital, organizational and emotional strengths, and collective impact and input of all stakeholders.

To consider how to integrate, align, and converge the broad mix of social, behavioral, and cognitive sciences to produce new insights and inform efforts for enhanced human responses to environmental change, Board on Environmental Change and Society of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine convened this 2023 workshop, entitled Committee on Integrating the Human Sciences to Scale Societal Responses to Environmental Change: A Workshop. The workshop was intended to investigate ways to accelerate and deepen conversations within the social sciences and to focus on synthesis, especially for the purpose of increasing community capacity to understand and effectively respond to climate change-induced environmental changes - at scales ranging from the individual to the household to the community, and all the way up to the level of state and international governance. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussion of the workshop.

Publication information

90 pages · 8.5 x 11 · paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-70582-7
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-70583-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/27129

Suggested citation

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Integrating the Human Sciences to Scale Societal Responses to Environmental Change: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Import this citation to:

Robyn S. Wilson

Dr. Robyn S. Wilson (chair) is the Professor of Risk Analysis and Decision Science in the School of Environment and Natural Resources at The Ohio State University. Her work focuses primarily on how decisions under risk and uncertainty are made at the individual level. She is also interested in the development of risk communication and decision support tools to inform decision making. Her current research focus is on adaptation to climate-exacerbated hazards (e.g., wildfire, water quality), and what motivates and constrains different land use and land management decisions on private and public lands. Dr. Wilson is the current past President of the Society for Risk Analysis and member of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Resilient America Roundtable and the US EPA Board of Scientific Counselors Social and Community Science Subcommittee. She is a former member of NASEM) Board on Environmental Change and Society and the EPA Chartered Science Advisory Board. Dr. Wilson received her B.A. in Environmental Studies with Honors from Denison University, and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Environment and Natural Resources from The Ohio State University.

David L. Albright

David L. Albright, PhD, MSW, is a University Distinguished Research Professor and the Hill Crest Foundation Endowed Chair in Mental Health Research at The University of Alabama. He is committed to public policy and administrative leadership aimed at improving the health, well-being, safety, and prosperity of vulnerable populations, rural and underserved communities, and our country’s military Veterans. Dr. Albright is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and the National Academies of Practice in Social Work. He received his MSW and PhD in social work from Florida State University.

Guangqing Chi

Guangqing Chi is professor of rural sociology and demography and also director of the Computational and Spatial Analysis Core at Pennsylvania State University. His expertise is in socio-environmental systems, seeking to understand the interactions between human populations and the built and natural environments and to identify important social, environmental, infrastructural, and institutional assets to help vulnerable populations adapt and become resilient to environmental changes. Chi’s work has led to innovative methods for identifying and measuring human–environment hotspots and spatial methods for population forecasting. His current methodological focus is to build an infrastructure for collecting, integrating, and analyzing multi-dimensional and multi-scale data, including big social data. His research has been supported by more than $50 million grants through NSF, NIH, NASA, USDOT, DOD, and SSRC, including the $3 million transdisciplinary POLARIS project, to investigate environmental migration and food security in response to climate change. He has published over 140 publications including more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, contributing to foundational advances in environmental demography and population-infrastructure nexus. He obtained a Ph.D. degree in Environmental Demography from University of Wisconsin-Madison (2006).

Susan Deborah Clayton

Susan Clayton is a professor of psychology at the College of Wooster. Her research looks at people’s relationship with the natural environment, how it is socially constructed, and how a healthy relationship with nature can be promoted, particularly in informal education contexts. She has written extensively about the impacts of climate change on psychosocial wellbeing and has developed a scale to assess climate anxiety. In addition to serving as the editor of the Cambridge Elements series in applied social psychology, she is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Environmental Psychology, Social Justice Research, Social Psychological and Personality Science, and the Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens. She was a lead author on the 6th assessment report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, contributing to the chapter focused on climate change impacts on health and wellbeing. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), the Society for Environmental, Population, and Conservation Psychology (SEPCP), the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), and the International Association for Applied Psychology (IAAP). She has a PhD in social psychology from Yale University.

Jack Richard DeWaard

Jack DeWaard is Scientific Director of Social and Behavioral Science Research at the Population Council, and international resource non-governmental organization. A human migration scholar, his research focuses on international and internal migration systems and networks, climate and environmental migration and displacement, and inequality and incorporation. DeWaard is a member of the editorial board of the journal, Demography, and is an active member of the Population Association of America. He earned is PhD in Sociology—with concentrations in demography and ecology, race and ethnic studies, and research methods—from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, his MA in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and his BA in Sociology and Philosophy from Seattle Pacific University. Prior to returning to graduate school to pursue his PhD, DeWaard worked conducting community needs assessments and in resource development for the Oregon Child Development Coalition, a non-profit agency that provides early childhood education and related services for the children and families of migrant and seasonal farm workers in Oregon.

Kristina Maria Guild Douglass

Kristina Douglass is an Associate Professor of Climate at Columbia University and a Smithsonian Institution Research Associate. Douglass is an archaeologist who investigates the co-evolution of people and landscapes, particularly in contexts of climate and environmental change. Her work is grounded in collaborations with local, Indigenous, and descendant (LID) communities as equal partners in the co-production of science, and the recording, preservation and dissemination of LID knowledge. Since 2011 Douglass has directed the Morombe Archaeological Project (MAP), based in the Velondriake Marine Protected Area of southwest Madagascar. The project has expanded understanding of human response to climate change by combining diverse approaches, including archaeology, oral history, remote sensing and machine learning. Douglass and her collaborators aim to contribute long-term perspectives on human-environment interactions to public debates, planning and policymaking on the issues of climate change, conservation, and sustainability. Douglass is a 2021 Carnegie Fellow, a National Geographic Explorer and was previously appointed Sherwin Early Career Professor at Penn State University and Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian. She earned her A.B. in Classical Archaeology at Dartmouth College and her MPhil and PhD in Anthropology at Yale University in 2012 and 2016, respectively.

Jody Hoffer Gittell

Jody Hoffer Gittell is Professor at Brandeis University's Heller School, Faculty Director of the Relational Coordination Collaborative, Co-Founder and Board Member of Relational Coordination Analytics. To understand how stakeholders achieve their desired outcomes in coordination with each other, Gittell developed Relational Coordination Theory, proposing that highly interdependent work is most effectively coordinated through relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect, supported by frequent, timely, accurate, problem-solving communication. The Relational Model of Organizational Change shows how stakeholders can design structural, relational and work process interventions to support more effective coordination of their work. Gittell is currently exploring the relational dynamics of multi-stakeholder change in ecosystems in multiple sectors around the world. Dr. Gittell currently serves as treasurer for Seacoast NAACP, on the board of trustees for Greater Seacoast Community Health, on the editorial board of Academy of Management Review, on the leadership team of the Organization Development and Change Division of the Academy of Management, Academic Fellow at MIT Center for Information Systems Research, and Chair of the Brandeis Faculty Senate. She received her PhD from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Stephen H. Linder

Stephen H. Linder, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Management, Policy and Community Health at the School of Public Health of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He serves as Director of the Institute for Health Policy, and Co-Director, Community Engagement, Gulf Coast Center for Precision Environmental Research. His current work focuses on community-based assessment of health needs and disparities, and on environmental and cumulative risks. His earlier work dealt with public policy design, policy implementation, and environmental policy. He is a University of Texas System Distinguished Teaching Professor and a Fellow in the Kenneth I. Shine Academy of Health Science Education. He is a member of the Board on Environmental Change and Society (BECS-NASEM). His doctorate is in Political Science with subsequent training in conflict resolution and mediation at UT School of Law.

Rajul Pandya

Rajul (Raj) Pandya is the VP of Community Science at AGU. Raj invites everyone to be part of guiding and doing science, especially people from historically marginalized communities, so that the sciences can contribute to a world where all people and nature can thrive, now and in the future. Raj chaired the National Academies committee on “Designing Citizen Science to Support Science Learning,” serves on the boards for Public Lab and the Anthropocene Alliance and is a member of the Independent Advisory Committee on Applied Climate Assessment. He helped launch the Resilience Dialogues – a public-private partnership that uses facilitated online dialogues to advance community resilience. He was a founding board member of the Citizen Science Association and served as Education and Human Resource Commissioner for the American Meteorological Society. Before joining AGU, Raj led education, engagement, and diversity programs connected to the National Center for Atmospheric Research, led an international research and development project that used weather data to better manage meningitis in Africa, and held a faculty position at West Chester State University. Raj got his PhD from University of Washington exploring how large thunderstorms grow and persist. Raj lives in Colorado with his wife Amy (a physician his parents call ‘the real doctor’), their daughter Maya, and their dog Nala.

Alai Reyes-Santos

Dr. Alaí Reyes-Santos is a founding member and the Associate Director of the Mellon-funded PNW Just Futures Institute for Racial and Climate Justice, and a Professor of Practice at University of Oregon’s School of Law. Previously she was an Associate Professor in the Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies. Her projects co-create knowledge with community and university partners and disseminate environmental research in accessible formats through public scholarship, media interventions, op eds, and digital platforms. She has recently co-created the Oregon Water Futures Collaborative and the Healers Project, two multidisciplinary initiatives through which the human sciences support storytelling, community empowerment and leadership development, public education, and scientific research that directly impact how historically underserved communities address climate and environmental change. In 2021, through OWF’s storytelling project, community voices usually absent from conversations about water infrastructure updates were at the center of state planning with long term impacts for public health. Currently, the Mellon Foundation funded the Healers Project to elevate Indigenous and Black approaches to environmental challenges in the Pacific Northwest. In 2022 Dr. Reyes-Santos received the Excellence in Teaching Sustainability Award for her deployment of multidisciplinary student teams to address environmental problems with community partners. PhD in Literature, 2007; MA in Spanish, 2003; BA in Humanities, 2001.

Fernando Sanchez-Trigueros

Fernando Sanchez is the Director of the Elouise Cobell Land and Culture Institute and an assistant professor with the departments of Native American Studies and Environmental Studies at the University of Montana. Previously, he has been an assistant professor of practice in Geographic Information Systems at the University of Arizona; geography instructor and project manager in Tribal Geographic Information Systems at the University of Montana, and researcher with the US Forest Service and the Catalan Institute of Human Palaeocology and Social Evolution (Spain). His academic interests focus on understanding the human dimensions of climate change, supporting Indigenous uses of information technologies for climate change adaptation, and tailoring computational methods for environmental and social science analytics. He accumulates over 15 years of experience in higher education and nearly 10 years facilitating and overseeing research collaborations between universities, tribal governments, and the federal government. He is affiliated with the American Association of Geographers and the National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance. He has a bachelor’s degree in History; four master’s degrees in Human Evolution, Applied Statistics, Geographic Information Systems, and Management Information System; a PhD in Earth Sciences and Archaeology; and graduate certificates in Business Analytics, Information Security, and Operations Research (i.e., Systems Optimization).

Linda Silka

Dr. Linda Silka is a social and community psychologist by training, with much of her work focusing on building community-university research partnerships. She has several decades of experience in leading community-university research partnerships on climate change, environmental issues, economic development, and environmental health issues. Dr. Silka was the former Director of the University of Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center and is now Senior Fellow at the University of Maine’s George Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions. Prior to moving to the University of Maine, Dr. Silka was a faculty member for three decades at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where she directed the Center for Family, Work, Community, served as the Special Assistant to the Provost for Community Outreach and Partnerships, and was Professor of Regional Economic and Social Development. Silka has written extensively on the challenges and opportunities of building research partnerships with diverse groups and has consulted internationally on how to build community-university research partnerships. In addition to her teaching and research duties, Silka is a Member and Fellow of the American Psychological Association and recent president and Fellow of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Silka has been published widely in peer-reviewed journals and Silka’s research has been funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Housing and Urban Development, National Science Foundation, National Park Service, and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Arianne Teherani

Arianne Teherani, PhD is Professor of Medicine and Education Scientist, Director for Program Evaluation and Education Continuous Quality Improvement, and Founding Co-Director of the University of California, Center for Climate Health and Equity. Arianne leads research on educational equity and the role of education as a core solution to climate and health crisis. She examines outcomes of endeavors to train health professionals to educate students and patients about climate-health-justice, the role of health systems science education in decarbonization, and the carbon footprint of education practices. She co-instituted the University of California and California State University inaugural Climate Justice Symposium for Transforming Education to integrate climate justice into education and build community engagement through just and transformative curriculum and pedagogies. Arianne’s research has been featured in venues such as NPR, KTVU, and the Huffington Post. She received the UCSF Faculty Sustainability Award and the University of California Sustainability Award. She was named the University of California Faculty Climate Action Champion - an award given to one faculty member at each University of California campus in recognition of their contribution to the sustainability mission. Arianne earned a masters and doctorate in education from the University of Southern California and completed a fellowship in higher education at the University of British Columbia.

Log In

Sign in to access your saved publications, downloads, and email preferences.

Former MyNAP users: You'll need to reset your password on your first login to MyAcademies. Click "Forgot password" below to receive a reset link via email. Having trouble? Visit our FAQ page to contact support.

Members of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, or National Academy of Medicine should log in through their respective Academy portals.

Email (required)
Password (required)

Don't have an account?

Register

Email (required)
New password (required)
Retype password (required) Password must be at least 8 characters
I accept the terms of use
terms of use

Thank You

Thank you for creating a MyAcademies account!

Enjoy free access to thousands of National Academies' publications, a 10% discount off every purchase, and build your personal library.

Forgot Password

Enter the email address for your MyAcademies (formerly MyNAP) account to receive password reset instructions.

Reset Requested

We sent password reset instructions to your email . Follow the link in that email to create a new password. Didn't receive it? Check your spam folder or contact us for assistance.

Reset Password

New password (required)
Retype password (required) Password must be at least 8 characters

Reset Password

Your password has been reset.

Log In

Verify email

Verify Your Email Address

We sent a verification link to your email. Please check your inbox (and spam folder) and follow the link to verify your email address. If you did not receive the email, you can request a new verification link below

Subscribe

First Name
Last Name
Email (required)
I agree to receive emails from the National Academies (required)

We respect your privacy and will never share your information.

Integrating the Human Sciences to Scale Societal Responses to Environmental Change: A Workshop

Featured publication

Description

Collaborators

Committee

Sponsors

Staff

Parent projects

Board on Environmental Change and Society

Major units and sub-units

Contact

Contact us

Provide feedback

Request materials

More like this

National Forum on Nature-Based Solutions

Future pathways for the BGC Argo program: A Workshop

Prevention of and Response to Sexual Harassment in Higher Education: Tools for Department Chairs and Principal Investigators: A Workshop

Future pathways for the BGC Argo program: A Workshop

National Forum on Nature-Based Solutions

Review of the draft United by Nature assessment

Extreme Weather Events and Insurance Webinar Series

Future pathways for the BGC Argo program: A Workshop

Review of the draft United by Nature assessment

Publication information

Suggested citation

My Academies

Integrating the Human Sciences to Scale Societal Responses to Environmental Change: A Workshop

Dropdown items

Featured publication

Integrating the Human Sciences to Scale Societal Responses to Environmental Change: Proceedings of a Workshop

Description

Collaborators

Committee

Sponsors

Staff

Parent projects

Board on Environmental Change and Society

Major units and sub-units

Contact

Contact us

Provide feedback

Request materials

More like this

National Forum on Nature-Based Solutions

Future pathways for the BGC Argo program: A Workshop

Prevention of and Response to Sexual Harassment in Higher Education: Tools for Department Chairs and Principal Investigators: A Workshop

Future pathways for the BGC Argo program: A Workshop

National Forum on Nature-Based Solutions

Review of the draft United by Nature assessment

Extreme Weather Events and Insurance Webinar Series

Future pathways for the BGC Argo program: A Workshop

Review of the draft United by Nature assessment