Overview :: Sustainability Science Program :: Center for International Development

Sustainability Science Program

Overview

The Sustainability Science Program at Harvard University's Center for International Development works to design institutions, policies and practices that promote sustainable development that meets human needs while conserving the earth’s life support systems. It addresses the problems of sustainable development by:

advancing scientific understanding of human-environment systems;
improving linkages between research and innovation communities on the one hand, and policy and management communities on the other; and, more broadly;
building capacity for linking knowledge with action to promote sustainability.

The Program was launched in September 2006. Our goal is to play a leading role in advancing this problem-driven research by contributing to the common interest, much in the way that problem focused inquiry in earlier times led to the emergence of the fields of agricultural science and health science.

At Harvard, the Program's work lies at the intersection of the missions of multiple centers. The Program is directed by William C. Clark (Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development, Harvard Kennedy School), Michael Kremer (Gates Professor of Developing Countries and Professor of Economics, Department of Economics), and Nancy Dickson (Senior Researcher, Harvard Kennedy School). They are supported by a steering group of Harvard faculty.

"Sustainability science" is problem-driven, interdisciplinary scholarship that seeks to facilitate the design, implementation, and evaluation of effective interventions that foster shared prosperity and reduced poverty while protecting the environment. It is defined by the problems it addresses rather than the disciplines it employs. It thus draws as needed from multiple disciplines of the natural, social, medical and engineering sciences, from the professions, and from the knowledge of practice. This field is recognized and supported by a growing number of schools, programs and academic journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Program Activities: The Sustainability Science Program supports major initiatives in policy-relevant research, as well as competitive awards for individual faculty research and curriculum development. The Program also runs a fellows program that brings together each year 15-20 doctoral, post-doctoral and mid-career fellows through an international competition. Faculty from six schools at Harvard and area universities constitute the Program's Affiliate Faculty.

Priority Funding Areas: We are looking to provide supplemental support for problem-driven research by students and faculty working at the intersection of environment and development issues, e.g., addressing sustainability challenges relating to advancing sustainable development of agriculture, habitation, energy and materials, health, and water.

Program Sponsorship: The Sustainability Science Program’s core support is provided by a generous gift from the Italian Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea. Additional project-specific funding comes from a variety of federal agencies, private foundations, and Harvard sources.

Key indexing terms: sustainability science, sustainable development, coupled human-environment systems, water, health, agriculture, land use, fellowships, executive education

For more information visit the web site at www.cid.harvard.edu/sustsci or contact william_clark@harvard.edu, mkremer@fas.harvard.edu, or nancy_dickson@harvard.edu.