RESEARCH INTERESTS
My research improves understanding of human-environment interactions in complex institutional settings, in which patterns of interactions among individual people, organizations, and decision-making processes influence the performance of environmental institutions, which in turn shape environmental outcomes.
In my research I explore questions such as: under what conditions can decision-making processes promote collaborative problem-solving at different administrative, spatial, and temporal scales? What factors shape the use of science in environmental decision-making? Under what conditions can biophysical connectivity (e.g., transmission of wildfire from one forested area to another) facilitate or impede collaborative interactions among resource users and other stakeholders? How can policy-makers constructively address conflict that stems from diverse perspectives on the factors that contribute to long-standing environmental governance challenges?
In this work, I draw upon tools and perspectives from policy, psychological, and environmental sciences, and I collaborative extensively with colleagues from diverse social and natural science backgrounds. My research also involves partnerships with natural resource management practitioners, extensionists, and members of other environmental stakeholder groups.
COURSES OFFERED
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ENR 4900.01: Capstone Experience
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ENR 4450: Climate Change Policy
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ENR 7425: Collective Action in Environmental Governance
PROSPECTIVE GRADUATE STUDENTS
Students interested in working with me should consult https://matthewlhamilton.github.io/opportunities/.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Hamilton, M., Hileman, J., Bodin, Ö., 2020. Evaluating heterogeneous brokerage: New conceptual and methodological approaches and their application to multi-level environmental governance networks. Social Networks. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2019.08.002
Berardo, R., Fischer, M., Hamilton, M., 2020. Collaborative Governance and the Challenges of Network-Based Research. The American Review of Public Administration 0275074020927792. https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074020927792
Wilson, R.S., Herziger, A., Hamilton, M., Brooks, J.S., 2020. From incremental to transformative adaptation in individual responses to climate-exacerbated hazards. Nature Climate Change 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0691-6
Hamilton, M., Fischer, A.P., Ager, A., 2019. A social-ecological network approach for understanding wildfire risk governance. Global Environmental Change 54, 113–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.11.007
Hamilton, M., Salerno, J., Fischer, A.P., 2019. Cognition of complexity and trade-offs in a wildfire-prone social-ecological system. Environ. Res. Lett. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab59c1
Hamilton, M., Lubell, M., 2019. Climate change adaptation, social capital, and the performance of polycentric governance institutions. Climatic Change 152, 307–326. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-019-02380-2
Hamilton, M., Lubell, M., 2018. Collaborative Governance of Climate Change Adaptation Across Spatial and Institutional Scales. Policy Studies Journal 46, 222–247. https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12224
Hamilton, M., Fischer, A.P., Guikema, S.D., Keppel‐Aleks, G., 2018. Behavioral adaptation to climate change in wildfire-prone forests. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 0, e553. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.553
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