Dr. Michael Burns :: Sustainability Science Program :: Center for International Development

Sustainability Science Program

Dr. Michael Burns
Center for International Development
Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
505 Rubenstein Building
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
USA
Tel: (1) 617-496-9330
Fax: (1) 617-496-8753
Email: michael_burns "at" ksg.harvard.edu
Group affiliation: Giorgio Ruffolo Research Fellow in Sustainability Science

Michael Burns is a Giorgio Ruffolo Research Fellow in Sustainability Science in the Sustainability Science Program at Harvard’s Center for International Development and project manager for South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research new Sustainability Science Programme. The Programme focuses on: the translation of key sustainability science concepts into useful analytical frameworks; competency-building in complexity theory, transdisciplinarity and communication between multiple knowledge systems; and resilience analysis across the social-ecological system continuum. Burns has managed environmental impact assessments of oil and gas projects in the offshore environment of Central and West Africa. In the course of his work in countries like Angola, Gabon, Cameroon and Mauritania he has developed an understanding of the social and ecological systems affected by the oil and gas sector and the sustainability implications thereof. The realization that many decisions, which have consequences for sustainable development, originate from diverse epistemologies triggered his interest in environmental ethics. He received his Doctorate in Philosophy from Stellenbosch University in South Africa in 2002 where he investigated the co-evolutionary relationship between environmental assessment and environmental ethics.

Advancing Sustainability Science in Southern Africa. The aim of the Sustainability Science Research Programme of South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is to better understand what is meant by sustainability science in a developing country context. The research programme focuses on three areas: the development of a framework for guiding the practical conduct of sustainability science; gaining an in-depth understanding of complexity theory, resilience theory, and transdisciplinarity; and the application of sustainability science in a number of practical case studies that traverse the areas in which CSIR has well-developed competency profiles (integrated regional development planning, urban settlement planning, conservation planning, water resource management and environmental assessment). Burns’ work focuses on the practical implications of sustainability science in a developing world context, specifically Africa, which is quite different from the developed world context in which the concept of sustainability science has its origin. Burns aims to write a book on the practice of sustainability science in Southern Africa.