The second course of the Thor Heyerdahl Summer School in Environmental Governance – will be organized in Norway in 2012. The
topic of this year’s course is ‘Global Environmental Governance’ and it will run from June 25 through July 6. It is organized by the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.The course will focus on the frontiers of theory formation in the field of global environmental governance emphasizing both
the earth systems dimension and the issue of international environmental agreements. It will also cover a wide variety of empirical questions concerning the processes of formulating international environmental regimes, their interplay and the relationships to other international agreements – especially trade. It will focus on the varied landscape of successes and failures and try to disentangle the causes and reasons for this situation not least through looking at the interests of the various actors involved. The issue of doing interdisciplinary research in this field will also be emphasized. Questions about how to succeed better in the future will be raised – both concerning research and the governance field itself.
The series is aimed at giving PhDs and young researchers the opportunity to develop high level skills in analyzing environmental governance issues. It offers the opportunity to critically reflect on the present status of both theory and practice in the field, and to discuss alternatives to present developments and solutions.
Several internationally renowned researchers will participate as keynote lecturers. Per date we have made agreements with Frank Biermann, Clive Spash and Oran Young. Frank Biermann is professor of political science and of environmental policy sciences at the Free University of Amsterdam. He presently chairs the Earth System Governance Project. Clive Spash is professor of public policy and governanceat the Vienna University of Economics and Business, with a long history in ecological economics. Oran Young is professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is most famous for his work on international environmental institutions and chairs the Scientific Committee of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change.
The Summer School is open to PhD students and young researchers who have completed their PhD degree within the last 4 years of the application deadline (February 15, 2012). Priority will be given to applicants from social science oriented programs or interdisciplinary (combined social and natural science) programs. Priority will moreover be given to PhDs, but we wish to include a few young researchers as well. In total, about 25 students will be admitted.
The summer school series is organized by the Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric) at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB). Thor Heyerdahl professor Arild Vatn is responsible for convening the series.
More information will be available at www.umb.no/thor-heyerdahl-summer-school from January 6, 2012.