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Ian Harryman

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Graduate Student Research Funding | 2023 - 2023 Academic Year

Social Networks, Environmental Change, and Health Among Shodagor Communities in Bangladesh

Social network structure, infectious diseases, and environmental change are connected parts of a complex social-ecological system. These forces can play a central role in constraining global development goals by producing disease-induced poverty traps. This dissertation will focus on Shodagor communities in Bangladesh‚ a semi-nomadic group of boat-dwelling fishers/traders who endure annual flooding events and are acutely experiencing the effects of climate change. Using a mixed-methods approach, this project will assess how Shodagor network structure changes in response to a highly variable environment, and the consequences this has for respiratory disease transmission, climate adaptation, and livelihoods in a low-income setting.


Ian Harryman, Department of Earth System Science 

Ian Harryman

Ian Harryman is a 3rd year PhD student in the Earth Systems Science Department within Stanford's School of Sustainability. Harryman is broadly interested in the relationship between climate, health, and poverty, and uses a mixed-methods approach to explore the consequences of environmental change on infectious disease dynamics. Some of his previous and ongoing research includes social network analysis of respiratory disease diffusion among poultry workers in Bangladesh, as well as testing planetary health interventions aimed at reducing logging and facilitating health care access in Indonesian Borneo. For his dissertation, Harryman will explore the socio-ecological drivers of respiratory diseases among a semi-nomadic population in Bangladesh. Harryman hopes to contribute to research that will advance global health and sustainable development goals in low and middle-income countries.

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