Laramie, WY
Email: caitlin.ryan@uwyo.edu
PhD, Geography, University of Colorado Boulder (2019)
MA, International Affairs, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, Washington, DC (2022)
BA, Geography and Russian Language (double major), Middlebury College, VT (1998)
I am a human geographer studying the socio-economic, political and institutional processes that drive cooperation and conflict over land, natural resources, and development. I am especially interested in connecting scientific and local knowledge in ways that enable communities to address complex problems. My work draws on the fields of socio-ecological systems, critical development geographies, regional and municipal planning, humanitarian and disaster response, and peace and conflict studies. I have expertise in research design and a range of qualitative methods that prioritize participant-led and collaborative approaches to knowledge production.
I am a researcher with Wyoming Anticipating the Climate-Water Transition (WyACT), a transdisciplinary project funded by NSF EPSCoR that is centered on the headwaters of the Snake, Green and Wind Rivers. My main focus is on Scenario Planning, a set of futures-oriented participatory research methods that I use to help Wyoming headwater communities plan for, and adapt to, climate-driven changes to the water resources that affect their linked environmental and social systems. I am also exploring how uncertainty about the climate future affects the decisions and actions of land managers, county and municipal leaders, and the public. I am particularly excited about the possibilities for scenario planning to bridge traditional, local and academic knowledge systems, to engage in interdisciplinary and co-produced science, and to think about the possibilities for connecting integrative modeling with local planning around climate-related adaptation strategies. Also with WyACT, I am exploring an institutional analysis of decision making around water for the Wind River basin.
My dissertation explored histories of urban transformation, development, and contemporary identity politics in Kyrgyzstan. Prior to earning my PhD, I spent six years conducting policy-focused research in the South Caucasus related to anti-corruption initiatives, forced displacement, and humanitarian aid. I am also a volunteer Editor with the Boulder Housing Network, which seeks to bring more pro-housing affordability voices to the city of Boulder’s planning meetings. Before coming to UW, I taught courses in international development, geographies of global change, global public health, and introductory human geography with the University of Colorado Boulder’s Department of Geography.
Socio-ecological systems
Climate change adaptation
Regional and municipal planning
Development
Space and place
Scenario planning/futures thinking
Peer-Reviewed Articles:
Ryan, Caitlin M. and Sarah Tynen. 2020. “Fieldwork Under Surveillance: Rethinking Relations of Trust, Vulnerability, and State Power.” The Geographical Review, 110(1-2): 38-51. doi: 10.1111/gere.12360.
Cowley, Austin, Caitlin M. Ryan and Elizabeth Dunn. 2015. “The Law, the Mafia, and the Production of Sovereignties in the Kyrgyz Penal System.” Ab Imperio 2015(2): 183-208.
In Preparation:
Witinok-Huber, Rebecca, C.N. Knapp, J. Lund, W. Eaton, B.E. Ewers, B. Geerts, C.I. Gunshenan, M.C. Inouye, M.L. Keller, N.M. Lumadue, A.R. de Figueiredo, C.M. Ryan, B.N. Shuman, T. Spoonhunter, D.G. Williams. (Submitted July 2024) “Does knowledge co-production influence adaptive capacity? A framework for evaluation.” Environmental Science and Policy.
Ryan, Caitlin M., A. de Figueiredo, M. Keller and J. Hamerlinck (Forthcoming-Abstract accepted). “Communicating Uncertainty about Climate Change through Scenario Planning: An Engaged Approach to Knowledge Co-Production and Transdisciplinary Scholarship,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers.
Policy Work and Public Scholarship:
Ryan, Caitlin M. 2024. "The Upper Snake River’s Climate Future: Scenario Planning for Uncertainty." Research Brief. University of Wyoming, Laramie: Wyoming Anticipating the Climate-Water Transition. August.
Knight, Ethan., S. Arens, K. Clifford, B. Duncan, E. Knight, C.M. Ryan and W. Quiles-Guzman. 2023. “Lander Climate Hazard Planning for Flooding: Workshop Final Report.” Western Water Assessment: Boulder, CO.
Ryan, Caitlin M. 2022. Spruce St. Project: 101 Condos and $7.5 million for affordable housing, Boulder Housing Network Newsletter, October 28.
Ryan, Caitlin M. 2022. Stagnant Housing; Urgent Need for Simpler Regulations, Boulder Housing Network Newsletter, May 17.
Ryan, Caitlin M. 2021. Why did Bedrooms Fail and What Can We Learn From It?, Boulder Housing Network Newsletter, December 10.
“Afghan Information Ecosystems: A Design Research Approach,” with Sayara Research for Internews. 2016. (Co-author, unattributed).
“Security issues faced by women human rights defenders in the South Caucasus,” Kvinna til Kvinna (“Queen to Queen,” a Swedish human rights NGO). 2012.
Urushadze, Erekle and Caitlin Ryan (Ed). 2011. “National Integrity System-Georgia.” Tbilisi, Georgia: Transparency International-Georgia. October.
Ryan, Caitlin. 2011. “Accountability in Aid Delivery: Renovation of Collective Centers for Georgia’s Internally Displaced Persons.” Tbilisi, Georgia: Transparency International-Georgia. September.
Ryan, Caitlin. 2011. “Georgian Civil Society Brief.” Tbilisi, Georgia: Asian Development Bank. November.
