Behind the Scenes: CEM's Postdoctoral Fellows

Above (from left to right): Drs. McCann, Yodzis, Szojka, and Bernhardt

Every week at the Centre for Ecosystem Management (CEM), our postdoctoral fellows (PDFs) gather for a standing meeting that’s part think tank, part sounding board, and part creative laboratory. These sessions are a space to share emerging ideas, discuss papers, exchange tools and resources, and collectively wrestle with complex questions in ecosystem science. Conversations move fluidly from theory to real-world implications and back again — a reminder that some of the most important scientific progress happens in dialogue, not just in isolation.

Above (from left to right): Drs. Beig and Ward

Above (from left to right): Drs. Cicchino and Hale

At a recent meeting, the discussion became especially animated around concepts of adaptive capacity and emergent resilience, and how these processes link across ecological scales. What began as a few probing questions quickly evolved into a passionate exchange of perspectives, examples, and frameworks, as fellows challenged one another’s assumptions and built upon each other’s ideas. The team is eager to keep this momentum going over the coming months, with hopes of shaping these conversations into a collaborative journal paper. It’s occasions like these — when curiosity, trust, and diverse expertise intersect — that capture the heart of the CEM: a community where ideas grow through shared understanding and collaboration.

Above (from left to right): Drs. Davis, Hale, McCann, and Yodzis