Juan C. Rocha is a research scientist at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Future Earth, and the Beijer Institute. Juan has also been visiting scientist at the Princeton Environmental Institute and the MIT Media Lab. His research questions are oriented to understanding critical transitions: from regime shifts in ecological systems, to collective action in society. Currently he is focusing on the idea of cascading effects, this is how a critical transition in an ecosystem in the world can impact the likelihood of other ecosystems tipping over. He develops mathematical models to explore which interconnections are plausible. He is also looking for empirical signatures of cascading effects on trade networks and rainfall transport dynamics. Juan is interested in methods for identifying resilience surrogates -good observables that can tell you how resilient a system is- as well as misperception of feedbacks and their consequences. He finds inspiration in complex systems science, and the use of mathematical models, networks and other computational methods to understand social and ecological complexity.

Juan is member of the Beijer Young Scholars, the Resilience Alliance Young Scholars, the Complex Systems Society, and the South American Institute for Resilience and Sustainability Studies. Juan is involved in outreach science initiatives, such as the Regime Shifts Database, where he has been main contributor of scientific synthesis intended for policy makers and the general audience. He is also interested on developing data explorers that facilitate the communication of scientific knowledge to the non-scientific audience. Juan is an avid climber and runner.