Rate My Professor Michele Barnes

Barnes' research specializations encompass the social-ecological dynamics shaping community and institutional responses to climate risks, including social networks, structural foundations of resilience, power relations, and feedbacks between social and ecological systems. Her work spans coral reefs, fisheries, agriculture, and disaster preparedness across regions like the Indo-Pacific, East Africa, and South America. Highly influential publications include 'Coral reefs in the Anthropocene' (2017), 'Building adaptive capacity to climate change in tropical coastal communities' (2018), 'Social Dimensions of Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems' (2019), 'Improving network approaches to the study of complex social–ecological interdependencies' (2019), 'Social determinants of adaptive and transformative responses to climate change' (2020), and 'The social structural foundations of adaptation and transformation in social–ecological systems' (2017). These papers, published in premier journals such as Nature, Nature Climate Change, and Nature Sustainability, demonstrate her substantial impact on the field. Barnes has earned the Australian Network for Social Network Analysis (ANSNA) Garry Robins Early Career Research Award in 2025 and the Paul Bourke Award in 2021. Current leadership roles include Associate Head (Research Education) in the School of Project Management (2024–2025), Core Member of the Faculty of Engineering Level D Promotions Committee (2025), and past ANSNA President (2023). She contributes to editorial boards and global initiatives, such as the Resilience Science Must-Knows report (2025).