Royal guest professors invited to unique environmental symposium in Stockholm
NEWS
Jason Shogren and Susan Baker, who have been Royal Guest Professors at Umeå University, will be attending the “Faith in the Future” environmental symposium on global sustainability at the Royal Palace of Stockholm on 22 March.
In recognition of King Carl XVI Gustaf’s 50th birthday, a fund was created in his honour to finance international guest professors within the field of environmental sciences. These researchers have now been invited to participate in a symposium, along with around a hundred leading figures within research, industry and politics. This will be the first time the 14 "royal environmental professors" have come together, and the aim is to provide visions for the future and to show how knowledge contributes towards a more sustainable society.
The symposium is part of the official national commemoration of the first UN Conference on the Environment, 1972 in Stockholm, and has been arranged together with the Swedish scientific academies. They all have a strong interest in – and great knowledge of – the environmental area.
During his guest professorship, Jason Shogren worked on developing the collaboration regarding natural resource economy between Umeå University and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. His research focuses on risk assessment and how societies choose to manage their stock of biological diversity, to design cost-effective strategies to reduce risks from climate change, and to value ecosystem services typically not bought and sold in the marketplace.
Jason Shogren, from the United States, takes part in Umeå University’s “Environmental and Resource Economics” strong research environment.
Susan Baker, from the United Kingdom, is the first woman to receive this prestigious professorship and her research is about the governance of sustainable development in the context of global environmental change. Professor Baker is concerned that the urgency of the problem of global environmental change may see us act without thinking of the long term consequences and their impact upon the promotion of sustainable development.
