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> From: sustsci grants <[email protected]> > Subject: [sustsci_fellowships] Harvard Sustainability Science Fellowships - > due Jan 15 > Date: October 31, 2011 11:20:37 AM CDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: "Dickson, Nancy" <[email protected]> > > Sustainability Science Fellowships at Harvard University > Doctoral, Post-doctoral, and Mid-career Fellowships > > Due date for applications: January 15, 2012 > > The Sustainability Science Program at Harvard University invites applications > for resident fellowships in sustainability science for the academic year > beginning in September 2012. 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. > Some of the most serious constraints to sustainable development lie in the > interconnections among sectors: energy’s growing need for water; the impacts > of water use on human health; the competition for land among food, energy and > conservation initiatives; and the cumulative impact of all sectoral > initiatives on climate and other key environmental services. A central > challenge moving forward is to develop an integrated understanding of how > sectoral initiatives for sustainability can compete with and complement one > another in particular regional contexts. The 2012-13 fellowship competition > will therefore focus on regional initiatives pursing an integrated > perspective on sustainable development in India, China and Brazil. It will > also include a cross-cutting research initiative to integrate work focused on > the theme of Innovation for Sustainable Development. Preference in this > year’s competition will be given to applicants whose proposals complement one > or more of these four initiatives. The Initiatives (see below), are led by > ProfessorsWilliam Clark, Michael Kremer, Henry Lee, Paul Moorcroft, and > Rohini Pande. The Program is also open, however, to strong proposals in any > area of sustainability science. 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, Brazil, China, India or developing countries who are therefore > especially encouraged to apply. For more information on the fellowships > application process seehttp://www.cid.harvard.edu/sustsci/fellowship. > Applications are due January 15, 2012 and decisions will be announced by > March 2012. > > India: Building public-private partnerships to promote sustainable > development in India > Faculty leader: Rohini Pande, Mohammed Kamal Professor of Public Policy > Sustainable development, by its nature, requires government and private > actors to work together. Externalities from rapid growth, such as the > depletion of subsidized resources, widespread air and water pollution or > unsustainable energy use, arise from a joint failure of government and > industry to create an economy where the most profitable action is also best > socially. The India Initiative will address sustainability problems in India > of both national and global import. The motivation for this research program > is to work with governments to channel the enterprising potential of the > private sector to correct such externalities. The research will address > questions in sustainable environmental regulation and provide evidence on how > public-private partnerships can contribute to solving existing challenges. > We focus on three research areas. First, existing environmental regulations > are weakly enforced by possibly under-resourced regulators, leading to poor > environmental quality. Second, traditional regulations, even if > strengthened, are not the right tools to address many of India’s pollution > problems. Third, from the perspective of sustainability of resource use, > India’s inefficient and rapidly growing energy consumption threatens to > undermine its own development by contributing to global climate change. The > research team will partner with government and private institutions in order > to conduct field trials of innovative environmental policies to provide > rigorous evidence on the impact of these policies for sustainable > development. Doctoral, post-doctoral, and mid-career candidates are > encouraged to apply. > > China: Energy in China: Environmental implications and management for > sustainable development > Faculty leader: Henry Lee, Jassim M. Jaidah Director, Environment and Natural > Resources Program > The China Initiative will address the environmental implications of > electrification and other energy policies in China and explore how China can > manage these implications. Fellows will work to identify and promote > policies that will contribute to thoughtful use of China's natural resources > (e.g., water, land) and/or the adoption of cleaner and less carbon-intensive > industrial and energy technologies. Research areas include, but are not > limited to: analyzing the impact of energy and industrial policies on water > scarcity; assessing barriers to the development or deployment of cleaner > energy technologies; and studying the impact of industrialization on health > and fragile ecosystems. Post-doctoral and mid-career candidates, especially > those who speak Chinese, are particularly encouraged to apply. > > Brazil: Sustainable Development of the Amazon and its surrounding regions: > The interplay of climate, hydrology, and land use > Faculty leader: Paul Moorcroft, Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary > Biology > Ongoing agricultural expansion and other land use changes in Amazonia and the > surrounding regions are expected to continue over the next several decades as > global demand for food and biofuel increases and regional economies expand. > The conversion of natural forest and cerrado ecosystems to pastureland and > agricultural crops creates warmer and drier atmospheric conditions than the > native vegetation. In addition, human induced climate change arising from > increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is also expected to > push the Amazon region towards a warmer and drier state. In a number of > recent climate modeling studies, the Amazon has been shown to exhibit two > contrasting states for the water cycle and ecosystems of the region: a moist > forested state, and an alternate drier and warmer state with sparser > vegetation. This has raised the question of whether deforestation and > conversion to agricultural land cause the atmosphere-vegetation-hydrologic > system of the Amazon to switch from its current moist state to the warmer and > drier one? And if so, will this new state have sufficient precipitation to > sustain the native forest and productivity of adjacent agricultural areas? > In this study we propose to answer these questions by developing a coupled > vegetation-atmosphere model to investigate the stability of the Amazonian > hydrologic system (“rivers in the sky” as well as flows on the ground) to > scenarios of land use and climate change . We expect to come closer to > capturing the true response and thresholds of the Amazonian system than > previous studies because our model has a more realistic representation of the > dynamic response of the native vegetation, and the study will incorporate a > range of land change scenarios. By doing so we will be able to answer the > question: How much deforestation is too much? Post-doc candidates who have > experience with integrated land-water-climate models and/or experience > analyzing patterns and trends of land use and land use change are > particularly encouraged to apply. > > Innovation for Sustainability: Enhancing the Production of Essential Global > Public Goods > Faculty leaders: > William Clark, Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and > Human Development > Michael Kremer, Gates Professor of Developing Countries and Professor of > Economics > This Initiative seeks to transform our understanding of the processes > governing innovation in the production of global public goods (GPGs) needed > for a transition toward sustainability. In particular, we aim to discover > how innovation systems can be designed that will simultaneously stimulate > needed inventions and promote widespread and equitable access to the fruits > of those inventions. The last two decades have served up a surprising number > of ad-hoc operational experiments in improving the production of > sustainability GPGs on topics as different as anti-retroviral medicines for > HIV/AIDS, the development of gene banks, and the deployment of famine early > warning systems. Those experiments, however, are generally poorly described, > little known beyond their respective sectors and therefore not contributing > as much as they might to understanding or promoting the production of GPGs > essential for sustainability. This project is an effort to move to the next > level of integrated and synthetic understanding. We propose a 3 track > approach: 1) Reconceptualizing innovation of global public goods for > sustainability: We will construct, apply, evaluate and revise an integrated > framework for understanding the innovation process involved in the production > of sustainability GPGs. 2) Comparing sectoral experiences: We will analyze a > global cross-section of ad hoc experiments in new ways of providing > sustainability GPGs using a template. 3) Conducting in-depth empirical > studies: We will carry out a set of detailed empirical studies to test > specific hypotheses about successful production of sustainability GPGs that > arise from our sectoral comparisons. This research will employ our conceptual > framework to pose similar questions across sectors and countries about how > the system of GPG provision has responded to the full range of “push” and > “pull” mechanisms that we will have identified through our sectoral > comparisons. Doctoral, post-doctoral, and mid-career candidates are > encouraged to apply. > > > To unsubscribe from the list "sustsci_fellowships" send a message (with no > subject) to: [email protected] containing the line in the > message field: > unsubscribe sustsci_fellowships > > > > Aparna Das > > Program Assistant > Sustainability Science Program > Harvard Kennedy School > 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA > +1-617-496-5947; [email protected] >
