Tag Archives: Sustainability Science

Ideas

Universities for Sustainability Science: need for a new vision

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At Resilience 2011, William Clark recommends the 2002 inaugural address of Michael Crow as President of Arizona State University (ASU) as a good example about how to think about what a university needs to be to embrace the challenge of sustainability science – A New American University, the New Gold Standard

A. Introduction

B. Why the Existing Models are Not Appropriate for Arizona in the Twenty-first Century

  1. The Existing Models: The Gold Standard
  2. The Cultural Landscape of Arizona: A Frontier Heritage
  3. Sociological Determinants: Changing Demographics
  4. Economic Exigencies: Embracing Opportunity
  5. Environmental Limitations: Sustainability and the Future of Arizona

C. The New Gold Standard: Design Imperatives of a New American University

  1. ASU Must Embrace its Cultural, Socioeconomic, and Physical Setting
  2. ASU Must Become a Force, and Not Only a Place
  3. ASU as Entrepreneur
  4. Pasteur’s Principle
  5. A Focus on the Individual
  6. Intellectual Fusion
  7. Social Embeddedness
  8. Global Engagement

D. Conclusion: The New Gold Standard

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Readings in Sustainability Science

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At Resilience 2011, William Clark in a good talk on the success and challenges of sustainability science mentioned that Robert Kates has created a Reader on Sustainability Science and Technology.

The reader is publicly available on the Center for International Development‘s website at Harvard University.  The reader is aimed at for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students of sustainability science.  The reader contains links to almost a 100 articles and book chapters organized around three major domains of sustainability science.

Part 1: an overview of sustainable development;

Part 2: the emerging science and technology of sustainability; and

Part 3: the innovative solutions and grand challenges of moving this knowledge into action

Ideas

Stockholm Resilience Centre talks on iTunes

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Sturle Hauge Simonsen from Stockholm Resilience Centre has told me that you can freely download Centre seminars and presentations from iTunes. Many shorter presentations are available on YouTube.

Speakers in the iTunes talks includes a diverse group of well known scientists such as Elinor Ostrom, Buzz Holling, Claire Kremen, Pavan Sukhdev, Frances Westley, Terry Hughes, Karen O’Brien, and Johan Rockström.  In total there are over 50 talks by a multi-disciplinary set of sustainability science researchers, including me.

You can download iTunes for free here. Once you have downloaded and opended iTunes, you can find all the SRC’s lectures and seminars by going to the iTunes store, going to podcasts, and searching for Stockholm Resilience Centre in the top right corner of iTunes.

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Harvard Sustainability Science Fellowships

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From Harvard’s Sustainability Science Program:

The Sustainability Science Program at Harvard University’s Center for International Development invites applications for resident fellowships in sustainability science for the University’s academic year beginning in September 2011.

The fellowship competition is open to advanced doctoral and post-doctoral students, and to mid-career professionals engaged in research or practice to facilitate the design, implementation, and evaluation of effective interventions that promote sustainable development.

Applicants should describe how their work would contribute to “sustainability science,” the emerging field of use-inspired research seeking understanding of the interactions between human and environmental systems as well as the application of such knowledge to sustainability challenges relating to advancing development of agriculture, habitation, energy and materials, health and water while conserving the earth’s life support systems.

This year we will give some preference to applicants whose work addresses challenges of innovation for sustainable development, with special attention to innovation in the energy, health and agricultural sectors. In addition to general funds available to support this fellowship offering, special funding for the Giorgio Ruffolo Fellowships in Sustainability Science is available to support citizens of Italy or developing countries who are therefore especially encouraged to apply.

The Sustainability Science Program is directed by Professors William Clark and Michael Kremer, and Nancy Dickson. For more information on the fellowships application process see http://www.cid.harvard.edu/sustsci/fellowship. Applications are due December 1, 2010.