MD Sarwar Hossain

I am a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science & Sustainability at the University of Glasgow's School of Social & Environmental Sustainability. I am the Director of Postgraduate Programmes of the School and Programme Director of the MSc Environmental Risk Management.

Before joining the University of Glasgow, I worked for the Institute of Geography, the University of Bern and the University of Southampton. I was the recipient of Europe's most competitive and prestigious award Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship.

I hold a PhD (2016) in Geography and Environmental Science from the University of Southampton, UK, where I specialized in interdisciplinary and social-ecological systems research. Prior to starting my PhD, I completed my MSc (2012) in Environmental Sciences from Wageningen University, The Netherlands.

My research focuses mainly on the social-ecological system (SES) approach and modelling with the following research interests:

Operationalizing the SES approach for sustainability challenges (Water, food insecurity, climate change, and natural hazards) using real-world examples
Understanding of social-ecological co-evolution and dynamics (e.g. feedback, nonlinearity, delay)
Defining the limits (Tipping point, Safe and just operating space) of sustainability

My research focuses mainly on how the social-ecological system approach can be applied to sustainability challenges at the local, national and global scale. My research interests span:

Social-ecological systems
Food Security
Risk and resilience to natural hazards
Climate change (Impacts and Adaptation)
Water resources management
System dynamics, agent-based and integrated modelling
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Interdisciplinary research and sustainability challenges in Deltas and Coastal areas (e.g., Mekong, GBM, Volta, Tana), East African countries (e.g., Zambia, Kenya), and China. I am also interested to explore other areas/countries (e.g., Tunisia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia) if the research falls within my research interest.

I take both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to conceptualizing and modelling social-ecological co-evolution and dynamics.

On the methodological side, I use system dynamics, agent-based and participatory modelling to understand the dynamics of the social-ecological systems. In addition to the modelling approaches, I also use network and time series analysis through statistical and econometric methods to understand the co-evolution and relationships within and between social and ecological systems. In the case of cross-sectional analysis, I am skilled at analysing the “Household Income and Expenditure Survey” datasets collected by national governments and the world bank.

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