Madhur Anand, ecologist, modeler, and poet

Madhur Anand feels right at home at MAK’IT. The Institute for Advanced Studies resonates with the work of this researcher from the University of Guelph in Canada, who has specialized in modeling complex systems for over 25 years. As someone who bridges environmental sciences, mathematics, and the humanities, she knows the subject well:“Practicing interdisciplinarity isn’t just about spending time together. Each discipline has its own language, and we need to devise ways to translate between them—using interpreters—since we cannot learn all the disciplinary languages.”

With the aim of fostering a dialogue between science and the arts, the researcher takes it a step further: “Translation is essential in literature; science should take inspiration from it!” Madhur Anand has, in fact, made this the central theme of her first novel, *To Place a Rabbit*, which was published this spring by Knopf Canada (Penguin Random House Canada). The story’s main protagonist is a scientist who befriends a novelist and offers to translate her latest book—published only in French translation, a language the author herself cannot read or understand—back into its original language. And for good reason: the author has lost the original manuscript of her work. The translation process will lead the scientist to gradually lose control of the course of events…

Tipping point

When asked about her dual role as an author and a scientist, Madhur Anand explains how the creative aspect became central to her work from the very beginning of her academic career.

“During the final year of my thesis, I couldn’t write—I had writer’s block. When I finally managed to put words down, a poem came out. Since then, I haven’t stopped writing poetry, and now I’m writing novels too,”says the author, who hasn’t found an explanation for this literary shift: “I didn’t see it coming. This step was a turning point in my career.”

Tipping points are precisely a manifestation of this intersection between her life as an artist and as a researcher. In her models, she focuses on ecological thresholds that can trigger an ecosystem’s shift into a new state, as well as on social tipping points that could prompt society to respond to ecological and climate crises.

“In my models, I try to examine the positive and negative feedback loops between environmental systems and human dynamics. Most models do not make this connection. The idea is simple: environmental changes can drive social changes, at the individual or societal level, and vice versa. These models therefore aim to understand how we can best respond to crises.” This topic was the focus of a MAK’IT seminar on May 23 and a workshop on July 7, 2025.

Madhur Anand’s visit to Montpellier this spring is also a remarkable coincidence, since the city serves as the setting for her new novel, which she conceived a few years ago during a brief stay in the Hérault city.“I never imagined I’d be in Montpellier when my book came out,”she remarks in surprise, having held book-signing sessions during the Comédie du Livre in May 2025.