Knowledge Co-production

The Coastal Social-Ecological Millennium Institute (SECOS), created in December 2020, is a center of excellence of the Millennium program of the National Research and Development Agency (ANID), part of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation of Chile.

Through interdisciplinary collaborative research with multiple social actors, the strengthening of human resources in science, the communication of science and by innovative new processes of public participation, SECOS address urgent questions about sustainability at the chilean coast.

Social-Ecological Systems

SECOS Millennium Institute contributes to coastal sustainability in Chile through cutting-edge research in three key Social-Ecological Systems (SES): Artisanal Fisheries, Shellfish Aquaculture and Coastal Development, where science, practice, policy and business interact.

Artisanal fisheries

Artisanal fisheries

Adaptive Capacity and ecosystem services in the context of territorial user right policies, Ecosystem Based Management associated to the development of multi-stakeholder polycentric fisheries policies for fish, invertebrates and algae, and Indigenous Communities’ rights, associated to policies, environmental drivers and justice.
Shellfish Aquaculture

Shellfish Aquaculture

Within the aquaculture SES, research will focus on shellfish Aquaculture, and its multiple environmental stressors (e.g. ocean acidification, deoxygenation, pollution) and adaptive capacity, and; Smallholder Aquaculture, focusing on socio-cultural drivers of change, innovation and policy.
Coastal Development

Coastal Development

Tourism, focusing on SES tradeoffs and planning between mega-development and small enterprises and; freshwater-seawater interactions mainly SES incoherencies in planning and impacts of emerging interactions, such as water highways and desalination plants, which have consequences over biogeochemical cycles and coastal planning and policy.

News

Latest events

Latest publications

  • Paper+ Enhancing the Biosorption Capacity of Macrocystis pyrifera: Effects of Acid and Alkali Pretreatments on Recalcitrant Organic Pollutants Removal
    Magdalena Varas, Jorge Castro-Rojas, Loretto Contreras-Porcia, María Soledad Ureta-Zañartu, Elodie Blanco, Néstor Escalona, Edmundo Muñoz and Elizabeth Garrido-Ramírez.
    International Journal of Molecular Sciences
    https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26073307
    Volumen 26, 7
  • Paper+ Exploring adaptive capacity at the land-sea interface: insights from coastal rural communities in Chile
    Matías Barceló, Anna J. Woodhead, Stefan Gelcich
    Ecology & Society
    https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-15893-300204
    Volumen 30, 2
  • Paper+ Navigating ecosystem services trade-offs: A global comprehensive reviewMaria José Martinez-Harms, Bárbara Larraín-Barrios, Luis D. Verde Arregoitia, José Palma-Duque, Stefan Gelcich
    Ambio
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-025-02139-3
    Volumen 54, 4
  • Paper+ Positioning blue justice at local scales: insights for transdisciplinarity through art-science integrationSteven Mons, Fernanda X. Oyarzun, Carolina Martínez, Genevieve G. Tremblay, Stefan Gelcich, Laura Farías, Pablo Romero, Valentina Manríquez, Camila Sepúlveda, Malcom Bonet, Nikole F. Guerrero, Simón Inzunza, Ariel Farías.
    Ecology & Society
    https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-15852-300135
    Volumen 30, 1

Arts+Science Integration & Outreach

Art, in its multiple forms, has the potential to influence values and emotional connections with the environment. SECOS leads transformative research on the art-science interface. Scientific results provide content, strategies, and guidance to the outreach program, which feedback to art-science research. SECOS outreach program includes field-tested initiatives, incorporates art into science education activities, develops scientific and naturalistic illustration training courses, art residencies within learning platforms that includes contemporary artists and artisans, and art-workshops associated to the Social-Ecological Systems research.
12

Associate researchers

14

Adjunt & young researchers

6

Postdoctoral researchers

67

Graduate & undergraduate students

3

Social-Ecological Systems

7

Learning platforms

Science & Public policy

We investigate innovative ways to provide knowledge to the decision-making and law-making processes. We co-produce scientific knowledge within the Social-Ecological Systems, which informs regulatory discussions from an «Honest Knowledge Broker» focus.

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