WHAT
WE DO
We are an interdisciplinary group with very different research topics all broadly nested in the focus of coupled natural-human systems.
​
Follow the links below to learn more about individual research projects and feel free to reach out with questions.
​
Note that Dr. Bailey is not accepting graduate students for fall 2024 admission.
CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS.
Rural Livelihoods & Climate Resilience
This project aims to facilitate a broader understanding of how livelihoods, land use and its history, and the environment are changing in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Area of Southern Africa.​
​
This project aims to facilitate a broader understanding of how livelihoods, land use and its history, and the environment are changing in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Area of Southern Africa.​
Inclusion Social Science in Conservation
This research focuses on understanding how historical processes influence approaches to conservation today and identifying more just strategies for conservation and natural resource management. The broad goal is to positively impact ecological and human well-being outcomes and inform future conservation actions with interdisciplinary approaches centering human dimensions.
.png){kind=small}
Human-Elephant Coexistence
This collaborative project aims to study the fundamental reasons for conflict between agriculturalists and elephants and develop and rigorously test interventions that are intended to simultaneously support livelihoods and rebuild the resilience of communities and landscapes across different countries and cultures with developing field sites in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, India, and Indonesia.
.png){kind=small}
Climate Adaptation, Equity
& Natural Resource Management
Climate adaptation has become an important focal point for local decision-makers in communities around the world. However, Strategies and policies aimed at increasing resilience have the potential to exacerbate existing social-inequities if they are not designed to yield equitable distributions of costs and benefits. In a project funded and facilitated by The Nature Conservancy, we are conducting an equity analysis of sea-level rise adaptation strategies in coastal and riverine communities in New York State.
Justice, Equity, Accessibility, &
Inclusion in the Environment
Perhaps most critical to our understanding of social-ecological systems is our ability to collaborate with a range of different stakeholders to determine the most pressing questions, design effective research, and disseminate findings to support
decision-making. We strive to work with diverse groups of people to ensure work has value and relevance.
Sense of Place, Drought, and Climate Adaptation in the West
In collaboration with Western Water Assessment, we are conducting research to understand how communities in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah are experiencing drought and water scarcity. We are specifically focused on the role of social network and the nature of sense of place, the relationships, feelings, emotions, etc. we have in connection to a specific location. We hope to understand how sense of place is changing under drought conditions and what this means for climate adaptation and resilience in the region.
