Associate Professor My primary research interests include climate change perceptions and adaptation, management of common-pool resources, and policy and practice related to conservation and sustainability. Along with colleagues at several U.S. and international institutions, I have an NSF-funded Dynamics of Integrated Socio-environmental Systems (DISES) project that is examining linkages between climate change, land management, landscape, and policy to understand how to sustain small-scale pastoral systems in a changing world. The project runs through 2027 and will offer several interdisciplinary training opportunities to graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher. At UGA, I am engaged with the Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems and the Center for Integrative Conservation Research. I will be accepting PhD students for Fall 2025 whose interests are related to human-environment interactions and climate change. If you are interested in working with me, please send your CV and a brief statement of your research interests (no more than 500 words) via email. Research Research Interests: Political ecology Knowledge co-production Climate change Extreme weather Sea-level rise and coastal populations Common pool resources Interdisciplinary & team science Communication of science Selected Publications Selected Publications: Welch-Devine, M., B. Burke, C. Steacy, and S. Rzonca. 2022. Environmental change in Southern Appalachia: Local ecological knowledge across residential groups. Ambio. 51:280-290. Welch-Devine, M., A. Sourdril, and B. Burke. (eds). 2020. Changing Climate, Changing Worlds: Local knowledge and the challenges of social and ecological change. Basel, Switzerland: Springer Nature. Burke, B., M. Welch-Devine, and A. Sourdril. 2020. Understanding microexperiences of climate change: How climate ethnography informs collaboration, adaptation, and effective responses. (Introduction). In Changing Climate, Changing Worlds: Local knowledge and the challenges of social and ecological change. M. Welch-Devine, A. Sourdril, and B. Burke, eds. Pp. 1-13. Basel, Switzerland: Springer Nature. Welch-Devine, M. and B. Orland. 2020. Is it time to move away? How hurricanes affect future plans. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters. 38(1): 54-76. Rickless, D., X. Yao, B. Orland, M. Welch-Devine. 2019. Assessing social vulnerability through a local lens: An integrated geovisual approach. Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 110(1): 36-55. Full list available here. Education Education: Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Georgia 2008 MS Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development, University of Georgia 2009 Doctorat Ethnologie, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour 2008
