Headline: News 2011

November 29, 2011. The Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam, presents the summary report at the closure of TransGov, its first collaborative project today. The authors examine dynamic questions of how – with an attuned understanding of complex societal mechanisms – better governance systems can be designed and implemented for sustainability reform, in which non-state organizations and civil society are more involved in decision-making. They argue that the existing governance approaches to social transformation processes, such as the energy transition, are not suitable. The English report by Prof. Roeland in’t Veld is available in print and as gratis download here. A German translation will be available shortly.

November 28, 2011. The IASS lectures series “A Different Kind of Development? Perspectives from Latin America“ in Potsdam closes at the beginning of December with lectures by two outstanding Latin American personalities. Former president of Chile Ricardo Lagos Escobar and Óscar Andrés Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga of Honduras, president of the international organization Caritas, will speak about development and environmental protection in Latin America.

November 18, 2011. International experts will convene at the IASS, Potsdam, to discuss renewable energy storage alternatives on November 24-25, 2011. The brainstorming workshop Sustainable methanol: An alternative green fuel for the future will be hosted by the cluster “Earth, Energy, and the Environment” directed by Nobel Laureate, Prof. Carlo Rubbia.

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September 19, 2011. The Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam, named atmospheric scientist PD Dr. Mark Lawrence (42) scientific director. Dr. Lawrence joins ranks alongside Executive Director Prof. Dr. Klaus Töpfer and Scientific Director Prof. Dr. Carlo Rubbia in October to lead the young institute. He earned his doctorate in earth and atmospheric sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, and has served as research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, since 2006.