Freshwater systems, societies and ecosystems are often studied separately, yet they are deeply intertwined parts of complex social-ecological systems. Advancing a holistic understanding of these systems is essential to addressing many grand challenges of the Anthropocene, such as ensuring water security, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

This session invites a broad range of submissions that study the dynamics of freshwater social-ecological systems. These may include socio-hydrological, ecohydrological, social-ecological, or other approaches that share an interest in investigating the properties of complex adaptive systems (eg., thresholds, resilience, emergent behaviour, path dependence, cross-scale effects).

We invite empirical, model-based, and theoretical contributions, which may include, but are not limited to:
- Network analysis, agent-based modelling, and system dynamics studies that represent feedbacks between hydrological processes and human behaviour such as decision-making and governance
- Machine learning and remote sensing applications to detect system change, map risks, and anticipate regime shifts
- Analysis or modelling of tipping points and cross-scale teleconnections (for example, virtual water trade) in human-freshwater systems
- Research on how ethics, power, justice, and values shape, and are shaped by, interactions between infrastructure, policy, and biophysical systems, including transdisciplinary work co-produced with water users, communities, and decision-makers

This session's overarching aim is to bring together diverse communities (hydrologists, ecologists, data scientists, social scientists, and sustainability scientists) into an interdisciplinary dialogue about the complex interactions between freshwater, society, and ecosystems. We especially welcome contributions showing how understanding these interactions can inform freshwater management to advance broader social and sustainability goals.