Linking Fellows Working on Sustainability Science Nancy Dickson Sustainability Science Program Center for International Development Kennedy School of Government Harvard University Forum for Sustainability Science Programs AAAS Annual Meeting, Boston, 16 February 2008

Sustainability Science An emerging field of problem-driven research dealing with the interactions between natural and social systems, and understanding how those interactions can help address the challenge of sustainability: meeting the needs of present and future generations while substantially reducing poverty and conserving the planet’s life support systems. Source: Proceedings on the National Academy of Sciences

Fellowship Programs

Fellowship Types Level: Masters, Doctoral, Post-doctoral, Mid- career (practitioner, scholar) Support for: Interdisciplinary degree, complement disciplinary degree or professional expertise Connectivity: Fellows, Faculty, Institutions Responsibilities: independent project, participate in faculty-led project, teaching, combination Eligibility: university, country, region, global Tenable where: university, country, region, global

Why link fellows? To build a build a world-wide community of peers to: Learn about perspectives of sust science Share and critique each others work Promote one another’s career path Mentoring Be future collaborators

Proposals for linking fellows could include Virtual forum Events to bring together scholars and practitioners of sustainability science Short course hosted by rotating institutions Exchange programs Internships to link scholarship with practice Society of fellows Job fair

Virtual Forum Fellows Network –Current fellows –Alumni fellows Fellowship opportunities Career opportunities for junior scholars and practitioners Who’s doing some of this already?

Forum “Network Members”

Events to bring together scholars and/or practitioners of sustainability science One-time events Periodic/annual conference Job fairs Who’s doing some of this already?

Network for Emerging Leaders in Sustainability

A Short Course on Sustainability Science Goal: –Expose each other to research approaches of participants –Create an intellectual community across institutions and seniority –Create sustainability science curriculum Host on rotating basis by numerous institutions Faculty bring 1-2 fellows from their institution Week of intense training in area(s) of that institution’s substantive and methodological specialization? Week of intense training taught by a team of faculty focusing on different modules? Who’s doing some of this already?

Book: Short Introduction to Sust Science Dasgupta (Cambridge), Clark (Harvard), Bongaarts (Population Council), Matson (Stanford), Ostrom (Indiana and ASU), Kates, Schellnhuber (PIK), Turner (Clark) 1. Why sustainability science? 2. What are the historical patterns of transitions in human-environment systems? 3. How do we conceptualize human-environment systems? 4. How do resources and environment respond to human activities? 5. How does human well-being depend upon natural resources/environment? 6. What should we worry about? 7. What are the important driving forces affecting sustainable development? 8. What determines the vulnerability and resilience of human-environment systems? 9. How do we to motivate sustainable development action? 10. How are we doing at sustainable development? 11. How does one do sustainability science? 12. Core research questions 13. Grand action challenges

Linking Fellows Roundtable Beacon B Arun Agrawal, University of Michigan Sarah Banas, Forum on Science and Innovation for Sust Dev, AAAS Bill Clark, Harvard University Nancy Dickson, Harvard University Becca Goldman, Stanford University Tom Kelly, University of New Hampshire Jianguo (Jack) Liu, Michigan State University Edward Miles, University of Washington Marty Perreault, Sustainability Roundtable, NAS Robin Reid, Colorado State University Melanie Roberts, AAAS Science and Technology Fellows Program Daniel Schaffer, Academy of Sciences for the Developing World Takeuchi Kazuhiko, University of Tokyo Tom Tomich, University of California at Davis Juli Trtanj, NOAA's Oceans and Human Health Program

Follow-up Sustainability Science Program, Harvard Univ Nancy Dickson, Forum on Science and Innovation for Sustainable Development Sarah Banas, National Academies’ S&T for Sustainability Program Marty Perreault,