Each year as part of its Patron Saint's Day celebrations, the Belgian university KU Leuven recognises individuals for exceptional scientific, societal or cultural achievement. One of the individuals who received this year's honorary doctorates, on 2 February, was centre science director Carl Folke.

The others are Philippe Claudel (multifaceted artist and humanist), Rakesh Jain (engineer and cancer research pioneer), Brainard Guy Peters (leading political scientist), and Chilean president Michelle Bachelet (who will receive her honorary doctorate later this year).

"In keeping with a centuries-long tradition, KU Leuven will confer its yearly honorary doctorates during its Patron Saint's Day on Monday, 2 February. This year, the university has singled out five remarkable individuals for its highest honour," they wrote on their website announcing this year's annual event.

Exceptional research
In a press release announcing the event Carl Folke's research on the resilience of integrated social-ecological systems is recognised as being both exceptional and novel.

"Folke's work adds a new dimension to our thinking on sustainability: he conceives of societies as living systems that are continually changing in interaction with their biophysical surroundings. His research on the resilience of these ecosystems is particularly pertinent for policy frameworks aimed at addressing climate change."

Carl Folke is professor and director at the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, and founder and science director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre. He is also editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Ecology and Society and co-founder of the Resilience Alliance, an international research organisation comprising scientists and practitioners from many disciplines working together on the dynamic of socio-economic systems.

Read an interview with Carl Folke on the KU Leuven website