Science, Environment and Development Group

Sustainability Science Seminar (Fall 2006)

Convenors: William Clark and Nancy Dickson

Description: The weekly Sustainability Science Seminar serves as a forum for participants in the Center for International Development’s Sustainability Science Program to present research plans and work in progress, providing opportunities for shaping proposals, critiquing ongoing research, and giving and receiving constructive peer review. The seminar, as the Program itself, considers work that explores basic understanding of the dynamics of human-environment systems; facilitates the design, implementation, and evaluation of practical interventions that promote sustainability in particular places and contexts; and improves linkages between relevant research and innovation communities on the one hand, and relevant policy and management communities on the other.

Audience: Graduate students, fellows, research staff, and faculty are invited to attend the seminar.

Sponsor: Sustainability Science Program at Harvard’s Center for International Development

For more information: To receive periodic announcements about upcoming local events either sponsored by or relevant to the activities of the Sustainability Science Program, click here to send an email to subscribe to the sustsci_events list. [Note: You will receive an email asking you to confirm your subscription request; you must reply in order to complete the subscription process.] For questions or further information, please contact Mary Anne Baumgartner.

Fall 2006

Monday, 18 September, 2006
Research Collaborations of the Science, Environment and Development Group
William Clark, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and Nancy Dickson, Senior Researcher, Kennedy School of Government
Slides presented (PDF download)

Monday, 25 September, 2006
Reconstruction of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina: A Research Perspective
Robert Kates [public talk in Frontiers of Sustainable Development series]

Monday, 2 October, 2006
Accountability in Decentralization and the Democratic Context: Theory and Evidence from India
Ashwini Chhatre, Post-doctoral Research Fellow

Wednesday, 4 October, 2006 (9:00-10:30)
Lessons relearned: Can experience with incentive-based instruments in environmental policy point the way for payments for ecosystem services?
Kelsey Jack, Carolyn Kousky, Kate Sims, Doctoral Research Fellows, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard

Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy
4:00-5:30, L382

Is Clean Water Overrated?
Michael Kremer, Dept. of Economics, Harvard Univ.

Monday, 9 October, 2006
No seminar – Columbus Day

Monday, 16 October, 2006
Nine Lives of a Variable: Perspectives on Fieldwork and Data Collection
Ashwini Chhatre, Post-doctoral Research Fellow

Beyond Borders: Networked Governance and China’s Engagement in Transboundary Environmental Management in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region
Erik Nielsen, Doctoral Research Fellow, Dept of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT

Wednesday, 25 October, 2006 (10:00-11:30)
Beyond the Bretton Woods Institutions: Global Health in the 21st Century
Nicole Szlezák, Doctoral Research Fellow, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard

Radical Innovation for Sustainability: Exploring the Barriers to Green Chemistry in the United States
Kira Matus, Doctoral Research Fellow, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard

Monday, 30 October, 2006
No seminar

Monday, 6 November, 2006
Protecting Open Space: Local Zoning, Politics and Land Use Change in Massachusetts 1971-1999
Kate Emans Sims, Doctoral Research Fellow, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard

Modelling Dynamics of Environmental Benefits in Response to Land Management as an Outcome of a Dominant Vegetation State
Gili Koniak, Doctoral Research Fellow, Institute of Plant Sciences, Hebrew University

Monday, 13 November, 2006
No seminar

Monday, 20 November, 2006
No seminar

Wednesday, 22 November, 2006 (10:00 - 11:30)
Community Management of Water Infrastructure: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Kenya
Jessica Leino, Doctoral Research Fellow, Economics Dept., Univ of California at Berkeley

Exchanging Local and Non-local Knowledge in Land Use Change through Interactive Geographic Information Systems: The Case of the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica
Juan Carlos Vargas-Moreno, Doctoral Research Fellow, School of Design, Harvard

Monday, 27 November, 2006
Bridging the Science-Practice Interface in Disaster Mitigation: Analytical Propositions Based on a Questionnaire Survey
Juergen Weichselgartner, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, CID

Monday, 4 December, 2006
TBA

Wednesday, 6 December, 2006 (10:00 - 10:45)
Incentive based conservation: Paying for erosion control in Indonesia
Kelsey Jack, Doctoral Research Fellow, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard

Monday, 11 December, 2006
TBA – last fall seminar date