SDEP Directory

Administration

Photo of Jesse Ribot

Jesse Ribot, SDEP Director
Profile | | 217-333-1293

Jesse Ribot joined the Beckman Institute and the Department of Geography as an Associate Professor in November 2008. Dr. Ribot is leading the Strategic Initiative, Social Dimensions of Environmental Policy (SDEP).

Photo of Marsha Dunlap

Marsha Dunlap, Administrative Support
Profile | | 217-244-2208

Marsha is the Research Group Administrative Support Staff member.

Faculty

Photo of Thomas Bassett

Thomas Bassett, Affiliate Faculty
Profile | | 217-244-3200

Tom Bassett is a Professor in the Department of Geography. He conducts research on environmental change, farming systems, and land rights in West Africa. Tom co-directs the SDEP Program on Climate and Society.

Photo of Ashwini Chhatre

Ashwini Chhatre, Affiliate Faculty
Profile | | 217-244-3485

Ashwini Chhatre is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography. His research interests include climate change vulnerability and adaptation, and democratic politics. Ashwini co-directs the SDEP Program on Democracy and Environment.

Photo of Brian Dill

Brian Dill, Affiliate Faculty
Profile | | 217-333-1950

Brian Dill is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology. His research analyzes the dynamic boundary between state and society in twentieth-century Africa. Brian co-directs the SDEP Program on Democracy and Environment.

Photo of Zsuzsa Gille

Zsuzsa Gille, Affiliate Faculty
Profile | | 217-333-1316

Zsuzsa Gille is Associate Professor of Sociology. Her field of study includes Environmental Sociology, Sociology of Knowledge, Globalization, Cultural Studies, and Eastern Europe.

Postdoctoral Affiliates

Photo of Jeremy Brooks

Jeremy Brooks, Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow
Profile | | 217-333-9961

Jeremy Brooks is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Social Dimensions of Environmental Policy strategic initiative. He has a BS in Biology from Trinity College, CT and a PhD in Human Ecology from the University of California, Davis.

Photo of Malini Ranganathan

Malini Ranganathan, Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow
Profile | | 217-333-9961

Malini Ranganathan is a post-doctoral research associate in the new Social Dimensions of Environmental Policy strategic initiative. She has a PhD from the Energy and Resources Group (ERG) at the University of California, Berkeley with a Designated Emphasis in Global Metropolitan Studies.

Doctoral Students

Photo of Yuting

Yuting Zhao, Visiting SDEP Doctoral Student

Yuting Zhou is a PhD candidate of China Agricultural University's College of Humanity and Development. Ms. Zhou has a theoretical and methodological background in development studies with a focus on smallholders in developing countries. Her dissertation research focuses on agro-biodiversity in Southwest China and peasant adaptation to climate change. In particular, she is interested in how and to what extent agro-biodiversity can help smallholders to adapt to climate or environment change. Her main research interests include peasants' responses to climate or environment change, and utilization of agro-biodiversity in rural areas. Ms. Zhou will be with SDEP program through August 2013.

Visiting

No Photo

Yanli Liu, Visiting SDEP Scholar
Profile

Yanli Liu is a SDEP visiting scholar fellow from May through December 2011. She is an associate professor in the College of Humanity and Development of China Agricultural University (CAU) in Beijing. Dr. Liu is an Economic Geographer with a research focuses on rural development policies in China.

Photo of Emmanuel

Emmanuel O. Nuesiri, Postdoctoral Research Associate

Emmanuel O. Nuesiri is a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Responsive Forest Governance Initiative (RFGI) of SDEP and the Department of Geography. He holds a Ph.D. in Geography and Environmental Science from the University of Oxford. His doctoral dissertation was on the political ecology of decentralized forest management in Cameroon. His current research interests are in the areas of democratic decentralization of natural resources management, and climate justice.

Past Fellows

No image available

Hou Jing, Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow

Hou Jing is visiting scholar from China Agricultural University, at The University of Illinois she is affiliated with SDEP and the Department of Geography. She obtained her Bachelor and Master’s degrees in sociology, and completed her Ph.D. in Rural Development and Management in China Agricultural University in 2011. Hou Jing has studied rural development in China, with a focus on rural livelihoods and natural resource management by farmers. The purpose of her research at Illinois was to investigate the “life world” of peasants in Hebei Province, China to understand the logic and characteristics of behaviors exhibited in the process of livelihoods decision-making.

No image available

Chen Li, Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow

Chen Li was a visiting Ph.D student with SDEP from August 2010 to September 2011. She is a Ph.D candidate majoring in rural development and management in the College of Humanities and Development at China Agricultural University in Beijing. In 2007, she received her bachelor of management from the China Agricultural University in rural regional development. Based on a strong interest in rural development, she began graduate study in September, 2007. In the past seven years, she has been involved in several development projects implemented in China. Her research interests include farmer innovation, climate change, adaptation, vulnerability, natural resource management, discourse, rural energy and development studies.