1. Introduction to Social Science for Sustainability
Autumn 2025 (September 22 – December 20)
This is the introductory course in the Social Science for Sustainability curriculum.
It combines theory, computational modeling, and case studies to help you understand how social processes shape sustainable futures — and how we can intervene.
Enrollment is free. Just subscribe on Substack to receive weekly lectures and resources.
The educational materials, the socmod R package, and any research we produce will always be openly available.
Course Overview
This course develops a framework for understanding how collective behavior emerges and how adaptation spreads in human systems.
You’ll learn how to connect models of cultural evolution, cooperation, and coordination to sustainability challenges.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the course, you’ll be able to:
- Understand how different social learning processes can promote or inhibit the diffusion of adaptive behaviors
- Analyze how networks and social structure shape cooperation, coordination, and collective decision-making
- Use agent-based and mathematical models to explore policy interventions for sustainability
- Critically evaluate models and evidence to distinguish between robust findings and misleading results
Weekly agenda
| Week | Date Range | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 22 – Sep 28 | Preview | Overview of course material |
| 2 | Sep 29 – Oct 5 | Introduction | Designing sustainable futures |
| 3 | Oct 6 – Oct 12 | Behavior Diffusion | Collective adaptation |
| 4 | Oct 13 – Oct 19 | Prevalence Dynamics | Tracking behavior adoption |
| 5 | Oct 20 – Oct 26 | Diffusion In Networks I | Regular and random networks |
| 6 | Oct 27 – Nov 2 | Opinion Dynamics | Influence, networks, change |
| 7 | Nov 3 – Nov 9 | Abstract+Outline | Exercise to start capstone project |
| 8 | Nov 10 – Nov 16 | Cooperative Management | Resource conservation in space |
| 9 | Nov 17 – Nov 23 | Promoting Fairness | Evolving women leaders |
| 10 | Dec 1 – Dec 7 | Diffusion In Networks II | Group-structured networks |
| 11 | Dec 8 – Dec 14 | Student Presentations | Share findings |
| 12 | Dec 15 – Dec 21 | Final Projects | Finish research articles |
(Thanksgiving break: Nov 24 – Nov 30)
Format and Access
- Weekly lectures released via Substack
- Hands-on exercises in R
- Interactive discussions: rolling enrollment lets new learners join anytime
Tools and Resources
- R +
socmod: Agent-based and equation-based modeling - Quarto: For reproducible documents and workflows
Placement in the Curriculum
This is the first course in the Social Science for Sustainability curriculum, next being offered Autumn 2025.
- Winter 2026 → Agent-Based Modeling
- Spring 2026 → Opinion Change: Models and Measurement
- Summer 2026 → TBD (short course)