Steven

Lade

PhD

Researcher

steven.lade@su.se

+46 701 919 523

@StevenLade

RSS-link

Profile summary

  • Complex systems theory
  • Dynamical systems theory
  • Social-ecological systems modelling
  • Poverty traps
  • Planetary boundaries
  • Fisheries

Steve Lade is a researcher focusing on social-ecological system modelling, planetary boundaries, and poverty traps

Utilising his background in theoretical physics, Lade’s research at the Stockholm Resilience Centre applies theoretical modelling tools, such as dynamical systems theory and network theory, to the study of social-ecological systems. Currently he holds a FORMAS grant to investigate interactions between the planetary boundaries, focusing initially on the feedbacks between biodiversity (biosphere integrity) and climate change.

Other research interests include extending economic poverty trap models to better take into account the complex cultural and biophysical settings in which poverty occurs and the diversity of alleviation strategies that are used to alleviate poverty. Previously, Lade modelled the social-ecological dynamics of Baltic Sea fisheries.

Lade holds a PhD in theoretical physics from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. Previous positions include: a postdoctoral position at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, Germany; and a guest affiliation as Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow at NORDITA, the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics.

Awards and achievements:

  • Developed a dynamic social-ecological model of an empirical case, the Baltic Sea fishery
  • Contributed to fundamental theory on the consequences of coupling between social and ecological systems on regime shifts
  • Extended conventional poverty trap models, with the intention of triggering a step change in research and policy on poverty and its alleviation
  • Used a feedback model to highlight the importance of biodiversity in climate change mitigation
  • Developed a new generic early warning signal for critical transitions
  • Analysed multistability in human cognition (intertemporal choice)

Publications by Lade, Steven

Opinions of 12 to 13-year-olds in Austria and Australia on the concern, cause and imminence of climate change

Journal / article | 2020

Harker-Schuch, I., Lade, S., Mills, F. and Colvin, R., 2020. Opinions of 12 to 13-year-olds in Austria and Australia on the concern, cause and imminence of climate change. Ambio, pp.1-17.

Early adolescence (12–13 years old) is a critical but under-researched demographic for the formation of attitudes related to climate change. We address this important area by exploring adolescent views about climate change. This paper presents opinions collected from surveys of 463 1st-year secondary school students (12–13 years old) in public secondary schools in inner-urban centres in Austria and Australia on whether climate...

Resilience as pathway diversity: Linking systems, individual and temporal perspectives on resilience

Journal / article | 2020

Lade, S. J., B. H. Walker, and L. J. Haider. 2020. Resilience as pathway diversity: linking systems, individual, and temporal perspectives on resilience. Ecology and Society 25(3):19.

Approaches to understanding resilience from psychology and sociology emphasise individuals' agency but obscure systemic factors. Approaches to understanding resilience stemming from ecology emphasise system dynamics such as feedbacks but obscure individuals. Approaches from both psychology and ecology examine the actions or attractors available in the present, but neglect how actions taken now can affect the configuration of t...

Effective alleviation of rural poverty depends on the interplay between productivity, nutrients, water and soil quality

Journal / article | 2020

Radosavljevic, S., Haider, L.J., Lade, S.J. and Schlüter, M., 2020. Effective alleviation of rural poverty depends on the interplay between productivity, nutrients, water and soil quality. Ecological Economics, 169, p.106494.

Most of the world's poorest people come from rural areas and depend on their local ecosystems for food production. Recent research has highlighted the importance of self-reinforcing dynamics between low soil quality and persistent poverty but little is known on how they affect poverty alleviation. We investigate how the intertwined dynamics of household assets, nutrients (especially phosphorus), water and soil quality influen...

Human impacts on planetary boundaries amplified by Earth system interactions

Journal / article | 2019

Lade, S.J., Steffen, W., de Vries, W., Carpenter, S.R., Donges, J.R., et.al. 2019. Earth system interactions amplify human impacts on planetary boundaries. Nature Sustainability

The planetary boundary framework presents a ‘planetary dashboard’ of humanity’s globally aggregated performance on a set of environmental issues that endanger the Earth system’s capacity to support humanity. While this framework has been highly influential, a critical shortcoming for its application in sustainability governance is that it currently fails to represent how impacts related to one of the planetary boundaries affec...