Exploring social-ecological-technological systems: A productive year for visiting scholar Dr Guoen Wei

Posted on Thursday 15 January 2026

Funded by the China Scholarship Council, Dr Wei’s time as a visiting scholar has fostered significant interdisciplinary collaboration and contributed to our understanding of how society responds to environmental shifts.

During his tenure, Dr Wei worked closely with LCAB’s range of experts including Dr Christopher Lyon, Dr Inês Martins, Professor Chris Thomas, and Dr Brennen Fagan. Their collective research focused on ecosystems and land-use trends, with a particular emphasis on the complexities of urban areas. Dr Wei also contributed to a key collaborative paper with LCAB and York Environmental Sustainability Institute authors, forthcoming in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, that proposes scaling up the social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) approach from urban applications to global biodiversity governance. By integrating social, ecological, and technological perspectives, this research helps provide a more holistic view of biodiversity and sustainability in the Anthropocene.

Dr Wei’s prolific year at the Centre is further evidenced by his contributions to several respected peer-reviewed journals, including Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Environmental Sustainability Indicators. With several more papers currently under review taking a closer look at the Sustainable Development Goals, his time at LCAB has resulted in a substantial body of work that strengthens our understanding of the Anthropocene, and LCAB’s contribution to understanding the intersection of ecology, the built environment, and major pillars of public policy.

The LCAB community is delighted by the results of this international partnership, which reflects the Centre's commitment to hosting diverse researchers and fostering global insights into biodiversity change.