Funding is available for one PhD and three MSc projects, which fit into a bigger research programme on the effects of bush encroachment on the herbaceous layer: mechanisms, feedbacks and thresholds. The project team comprises Susi Vetter and Brad Ripley (Botany Department, Rhodes University) and Sally Archibald (School of Animal, Plant & Environmental Sciences, Wits). Background and project information: Bush encroachment is global phenomenon that has important impacts on grassy ecosystems, causing potentially rapid shifts to functionally distinct forest or thicket. Key to the regime shift between grassland and forest appears to be the loss of a flammable C4 grass layer. The lack of a generalised [...]

Third Resilience Academy - Enhancing resilience to minimize loss and damage - providing knowledge for the UNFCCC https://ehs.unu.edu/article/read/third-resilience-academy-call-for-applications In the most vulnerable regions of our planet, the impact of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and cyclones threaten lives and livelihoods. The most affected regions include large deltas, small islands and exposed coastal regions as well as arid and semiarid lands, and areas affected by glacier and permafrost melt. People on the frontlines of climate change face severe risks from extreme weather and slow onset processes, including coastal inundation, catastrophic floods, and extended drought conditions. These stresses have the [...]

International Summer School: "How to model human decision making in social-ecological agent-based models" For PhD Students and early Postdocs modelling social-ecological systems in the context of natural resource use From 5 July to 10 July 2015 in Kohren-Sahlis (near Leipzig, Germany) More info: https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=33352

Research Fellowship: Ecosystem Resilience and Bio-Physical Process Bangor University - School of Ocean Sciences Salary: £31,324 to £37,394 (Grade 7) p.a. Hours: Full Time Contract Type: Contract / Temporary Placed on: 29th December 2014 Closes: 4th February 2015 Job Ref: BU00781 Bangor University, Cardiff University and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) invite applications for a 44-month, full-time Research Fellowship to investigate how coastal and estuarine landscapes are shaped by interactions of biological resilience with environmental change. Salt marshes are important for flood protection, but undergo sudden shifts in area cover and distribution. The causes for such shifts [...]

The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University's (NMMU) Sustainability Research Unit (www.nmmu.ac.za/sru) is recruiting Master’s and Doctoral students who are passionate about collaborative action research, complexity and adaptive co-management of social-ecological systems. Our over-all objective with this action research programme is to work with stakeholders towards adaptive environmental stewardship, using the Garden Route as a ‘laboratory’ for transformation. We offer: Some leeway to pursue your own interests, within the conceptual frameworks of social-ecological resilience, adaptive co-management, social learning, environmental stewardship and participatory action research in the Garden Route; Linkages to networks of leading national and international academics and students; A collegial and [...]

Invitation: Organisational Responses to Social-Ecological Complexity  12 February 2015, UCT Graduate School of Business You are invited to a discussion hosted by the African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI) Chair on organisational innovation and intermediation in social-­ecological systems. We seek a better theoretical and practically relevant understanding of why and how organisations – including in particular corporations and intermediaries – proactively respond to complex social and environmental problems. Researchers in the ACDI Chair will provide brief overviews of their analyses as a platform for discussion among researchers and practitioners. Kindly RSVP by 31 January 2015 to Lindie Botha at lindie@odysseynet.org. For more information, please download the programme here.

The 4th International ICLEI Urban Research Symposium 8-12 April 2015 - Seoul, Republic of Korea   Leading urban sustainability researchers will convene at the ICLEI World Congress to drive forward current debates in international policymaking and sustainable development. We invite interested researchers and experts to submit abstracts which reflect either active research contributions or research-practice collaboration in these fields.   Thematic priorities for the 2015 Symposium include: - Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals at the urban level: We wish to bring research-practitioners together to discuss what is needed to implement the new SDGs at the urban level. Where will research [...]

The Swedish Institute invites applications for study scholarships for South African students. The scholarships are intended for full-time master's level studies in Sweden and are granted on condition that the students have been admitted to a master's programme at a Swedish University. Eligible programmes are presented at University Admissions with the following subject areas: social science focusing on democracy, information and communication technologies, and environment and sustainability. Applicants must be South African citizens but may, at the time of application and admission, reside in a country other than South Africa, including Sweden. Priority will be given to applicants who have [...]

Early career scientists are invited to submit applications to participate in next year's Future Earth young scientists' networking conference on integrated science. The International Council for Science (ICSU), International Social Science Council (ISSC) and the German Research Foundation (DFG) invite applications for participation from post-doctoral researchers interested in integrated science and collaboration between the social and natural sciences. The conference will bring together senior and leading scientists and researchers with a diversity of perspectives to identify priority questions for future research on the topic of 'Future Sustainability - the role of Science in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)'. It will [...]

The Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC) and Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) are launching a Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) on Planetary Boundaries and Human Opportunities. The MOOC will feature lectures from top sustainability scientists, such as Johan Rockström, and will run from November 17, 2014 to January 18, 2015. The MOOC will contain eight different modules, covering key sustainability science topics, such as: the Anthropocene, social-ecological systems thinking, planetary boundaries, and resilience thinking. Participants will have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the topics through quizzes and homework assignments. The MOOC is also designed to be as interactive as possible [...]