Theory and Knowledge Systems for Sustainability - Agenda

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Draft Program

Day 1 Arrival by late afternoon, evening dinner and reception, opening remarks by Jerry Sabloff

Day 2

9:00 Opening remarks and workshop objectives: Pavel Kabat, (IIASA Director and CEO), Nina Fedoroff (KAUST and SFI), Molly Jahn (U. Wisc.), Luis Bettencourt (SFI) and Margaret Collins (IIASA) Session I: The current state of sustainability science (Moderator: Sander van der Leeuw)

9:30-10:30 Discussion Panel 1: Are there theoretical foundations for sustainability science? Panelists: Simon Levin (Princeton University, Bill Clark (Harvard University), Geoff West), SFI Format: 10 minutes for comments followed by discussion

10:30-11:00 Coffee Break

11:00-12:00 Discussion Panel 2: How do theory and practice interface today and where is there a need for new approaches? Panelists: Tom Wilbanks (Oak Ridge Labs), Ulf Dieckmann (IIASA), Nebojsa Nakicenovic (IIASA) Format: 10 minutes for comments followed by discussion

12:00-1:00 Working Lunch

Remarks by Pavel Kabat:  Integrating theory and knowledge systems into the global water futures initiative 

Session II: Case studies and what can be learned from them (Moderator: Tony Janetos)

1:00-3:00 Discussion Panel 3: Case studies toward sustainability in complex social-ecological systems Panelists: Ian Prosser (CSIRO), Harry Kolar (IBM), Bob Scholes (CSIR, South Africa) Format: 15 minutes for comments followed by discussion

3:00-3:30 Coffee Break

3:30-4:30 Discussion Panel 4: What hypotheses about moving to sustainability emerge from case studies? Panelists: Jen Dunne (SFI), Ilan Chabay (Inst Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam), Michael Obersteiner (IIASA) Format: 5 minutes for comments followed by discussion

6:30 Wine & cheese at Nina Fedoroff’s home

7:30 Conference dinner at Santa Café

Day 3 Session III: Urbanization and its implications for sustainability (Moderator: Geoff West)

9:00-10:30 Discussion Panel 5: Urbanization and urban systems: ecological impacts and innovation potential. Panelists: Luis Bettencourt (SFI), Jessika Trancik (MIT), Ann Kinzig (Arizona State) Format: 10 minutes for comments followed by discussion

10:30-11:00 Coffee break

Session IV: From practice to theory and theory to practice (Moderator: Simon Levin)

1:00-2:00 Discussion Panel 6: Critical transitions in complex social-ecological systems. Panelists: Elena Rovenskaya (IIASA), Vasilis Dakos (Estación Biológica de Doñana), Omar Knio (Duke Univ. and KAUST) Format: 10 minutes for comments followed by discussion

12:00-1:00 Lunch Break

2:00-3:00 Discussion Panel 7: Defining and staying in a safe operating space Katherine Richardson (Univ of Copenhagen), Deb Neimeyer (UC Davis), John Antle (Oregon State University) Format: 10 minutes for comments followed by discussion

3:00-3:30 Coffee Break

3:30-4:30 Discussion Panel 8: Bringing theory to practice and application Are we monitoring the right parameters? How will we know when we are in a safe operating space for humanity? How do we more effectively integrate theoretical and data-based modeling through experimentation? Discussants: Sander van der Leeuw (Arizona State University), Pavel Kabat (IIASA), Molly Jahn (Univ of Wisconsin) Format: Discussion