Juan Rios Ocampo

Juan Rios Ocampo serves as a Casual Academic in the School of Systems & Computing at UNSW Canberra and completed his PhD in Management from the School of Management and Governance at UNSW Business School in June 2024. His doctoral research, titled 'Urban development growth strategies and societal wellbeing,' was conducted as a Scientia scholar with AU$40,000 funding from the University of New South Wales. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a Master of Engineering in Systems Engineering, both from the National University of Colombia, where he earned awards for the best BSc thesis and the highest GPA group in his cohort. Earlier in his career, he worked as a researcher at the National University of Colombia and in an interdisciplinary team at Colombia's Ministry of Information and Communications Technology addressing the digital divide. He also lectured at the University of La Sabana and the Metropolitan Institute of Technology in Colombia, and served as a tutor at UNSW Sydney and guest lecturer at UNSW Canberra and the National University of Colombia.

His research specializations encompass systems thinking, system dynamics simulation modelling, mental models, urban dynamics, societal progress and well-being, and energy policy. Rios Ocampo employs cross-disciplinary approaches integrating social, economic, environmental sciences, and operations research tools such as agent-based modelling and optimization. Key publications include 'Fragmentation and complexity as obstacles to the beyond GDP transition' (Ecological Economics, 2026, with Cunico and Gary); 'Urban growth strategy in Greater Sydney leads to unintended social and environmental challenges' (Nature Cities, 2025, with Gary); 'How city attractiveness and population growth created unaffordable housing in Greater Sydney' (Frontiers in Sustainability, 2025, with Gary); 'Research performance of management scholars in Australian group of eight universities' (Australian Journal of Management, 2024, with Gary and Khan); 'Using analytical equations to represent nonlinear relationships' (System Dynamics Review, 2022, with Gary); and several works on renewable energy penetration, thermal districts, and construction materials demand in Colombia (Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, International Journal of Energy Research, 2017–2022). He received a young researcher scholarship from Colombia's Administrative Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation. Rios Ocampo has presented at international conferences including the System Dynamics Society and Latin American energy economics meetings.