About Me

I am an environmental demographer and sociologist who broadly studies demographic responses to environmental change. Currently, I am a Sociology PhD student and a Center for Demography and Ecology pre-doctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an expected graduation date of May 2026. Prior to attending graduate school, I received my B.S. in Statistics from Iowa State Univeristy.

Overview

I broadly study demographic responses to environmental change, in both the US and sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, I am interested in how population responses to environmental disasters and longer-term environmental changes vary across demographic sub-groups, places and types of environmental hazards. Throughout my work, I pay close attention to measuring environmental phenomena to best capture the impacts on people. With hurricanes, for example, does it matter that the hurricane occurred or how strong it was? I consider this and similar questions throughout my work. Currently, my research is investigating the influence of environmental phenomena on migration systems in the US and the interaction between work, health, and wildfire exposure in Colorado.

Published Work

Ronnkvist, S.R., Thiede, B.C., Barber, E. (2023). Child Fostering in a Changing Climate: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa. Population and Environment. 45(28). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-023-00435-2

Thiede, B. C., Ronnkvist, S. , Armao, A., & Burka, K. (2022). Climate anomalies and birth rates in sub-Saharan Africa. Climatic Change, 171(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03273-z