Hi Everyone,

It is My Sellberg and Megan Meacham here to introduce ourselves to you and kick off a series of blog posts dedicated to PECS 2015! PECS 2015 is a scientific conference focused on the social ecological dynamics of the anthropocene, hosted by the Programme on ecosystem change and society (PECS) in Stellenbosch, South Africa the 3rd – 5th November, 2015.

We are both PhD students at the Stockholm Resilience Centre as well as one half of the dream team that makes up the PECS International program office. Megan’s PhD work focuses on the dynamics of multiple ecosystem services and My’s PhD engages with the development and practice of resilience assessment.

We will be among the waves of social ecological systems scholars descending upon South Africa next week to join with the dynamic SES community based there. We are hoping for a week full of discussions, lively debates, provoking presentations, lots of fun, and of course a bit of wine.

We will use this space to share our perspectives on the conference and surrounding events as well as engage with other young and young-at-heart scholars. We hope that you will follow along as we depart the ever darker Stockholm and immerse ourselves in all the science and fun of sunny Stellenbosch and Cape Town.

Follow us on Twitter: @meganmeacham and @MySellberg