Caela O'Connell

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology and joint faculty at the Environment, Ecology, and Energy Program (E3P) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC).

Through the university, I run the Socio-Ecological Change Research Lab (SECR) where I work with both undergraduate and graduate students on environmental learning, food systems resilience, and coastal resilience in North Carolina.

Additionally, I oversee the Food for U(NC) and Comida para U(NC) websites, and I am a co-founder of the Culture and Disaster Action Network (CADAN).

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Select Publications

I am the founder and principal investigator of the Socio-Ecological Change Research (SECR) Lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We investigate different aspects of sustainability, agriculture, inequality, water, disasters, adaptation, crisis, and environmental conservation. Through partnerships with community organizations, we tackle problems in a multitude of fields ranging from food insecurity to environmental learning.

Check out our Past and Current Projects!

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_{Photo credits to UNC-Chapel Hill, University Day. Caela O’Connell and Margot Midkiff (’23, Gillings School of Global Public Health) present as keynote speakers on University Day, as SECR lab was honored by the Chancellor}

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My research and teaching consider the intersections of agricultural communities, environmental health, and climate change focusing on water, agricultural disease, economics, decision-making, and policy. I study environmental conservation, pollution, water quality policy, and decision-making in the US with communities around impaired bodies of water in North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee. I have documented interdependent crises involving agriculture disease, climate change, and natural hazards in the Caribbean and Gulf Coast with Hurricanes Tomas in 2010 and Harvey and Maria in 2017. Additionally, I am interested in everything banana-related and have been working with farming communities in the Caribbean and Latin America and the US since 2003.

Primary Interests: Climate change and climate change adaptation, Economics, Food and agriculture, Sustainability, resilience, and mitigation, Governance

Locations of Experience: Caribbean and Central America, North America, Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

Other Areas of Research: Disasters and Natural Hazards, Water Quality

Check out my select publications and current research projects!

I advise students in Master’s and Ph.D. programs in Anthropology and the Environment, Ecology, and Energy (E3P) program. Throughout the course of their program and research, I am in communication with my students. I hold co-working sessions to check in with them and for them to learn from each other. Part of these working sessions is dedicated to guiding them in improving their organization and their iterative semester and research plans. I also work with them to develop an Individual Development Plan (IDP) that accounts for their skills, interests, and values at the start of the program and lays out the requirements and responsibilities they need to meet to accomplish their scholarly and professional goals.

If you are interested in becoming one of my advisees, please contact me here. See Advisees tab for information about current and previous advisee students.