Resilience Pioneers
Our science builds on ideas and discoveries from researchers around the world.
Eugene P. Odum
The brothers Eugene P. Odum and Howard T. Odum are the founders of systems ecology. They were pioneers in understanding Nature as ecosystems, developed a new foudnation for ecology and brought humans into the picture as part of and dependent on Earth's life-supporting ecosystems. Several new research areas emerged from their work such as ecological economics, ecological engineering, and estuarine ecology. In 1987 they were awarded one of the most important science prizes, the Crafoord Prize.
Bert Bolin
Bert Bolin was a professor of meteorology at Stockholm University from 1961 until his retirement in 1990, and served as the first chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Shortly after finishing his PhD in 1956, he began working on atmospheric chemistry and the cycling of pollutants in the atmosphere. This work led to fundamental advances in our understanding of the carbon cycle - not only in the atmosphere but also in the oceans and terrestrial biosphere. He is widely praised for establishing IPCC as a model for how international global environmental assessments should be done. Bolin has received numerous awards including the Blue Planet Prize.
CS Holling
CS "Buzz" Holling is considered the father of resilience research and a pivotal figure in the development of the Stockholm Resilience Centre. His initial interest in predator-prey interactions developed into a wider interest about human-nature interactions. His collaboration with experts outside of universities and research labs spurred his initial ideas about resilience and adaptive management. Holling received many accolades for his contributions to science and society, including the Eminent Ecologist Award from the Ecological Society of America and the Volvo Environment Prize. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Elinor Ostrom
Elinor Ostrom, a political economist and professor at Indiana University, was the first woman to receive the Economics Prize in Memory of Alfred Nobel (2009). In her research, Ostrom countered the theory behind the "tragedy of the commons" by demonstrating how people collaborate in sophisticated ways to sustainably govern the commons like fisheries or forests. In addition to her affiliations with the Resilience Alliance and the Beijer Institute and work on social-ecological systems, she was closely linked to the Stockholm Resilience Centre. Between 2007 and until her death in 2012 she was a member of the Centre board.
AnnMari Jansson
AnnMari Jansson was a Swedish professor in systems ecology and a founding thinker within ecological economics. Jansson led the early work in the 1970s on ecology and economics, demonstrating the interdependencies between humans and nature. In 1988 she helped establish the International Society for Ecological Economics. She was part of the first generation of researchers to be based at the Askö Laboratory, a field site considered to be a reference point for Swedish research in the Baltic Sea. Jansson was head of the natural resource management research group and started the Centre for Transdisciplinary Research, which were both instrumental in establishing the Stockholm Resilience Centre.
Karl-Göran Mäler
Karl-Göran Mäler was a world-renowned economist who pioneered environmental economics. As professor and director of the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, he fostered an interdisciplinary research arena from which new discoveries emerged, such as inclusive wealth, or the implications of regime shifts and resilience for economic thinking. He was devoted to building capacity of young scholars in developing countries, was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and received the Volvo Environmental Prize in 2002. Mäler played an important role in the creation of the Stockholm Resilience Centre.
Donella Meadows
Donella Meadows was an environmental scientist and writer, best known as lead author of the influential books The Limits to Growth and Thinking in Systems: a Primer. After completing her PhD in biophysics from Harvard in 1968, she became a leading figure in systems analysis. In 1972, she was on the MIT team that produced the global computer model "World3" for the Club of Rome, providing the basis for The Limits to Growth. The book sparked international debate about the limits of Earth's capacity to support human economic expansion - a debate that continues to this day.
Frances Westley
Frances Westley is a renowned professor at the University of Waterloo in the areas of social innovation and transformation, strategic change, visionary leadership, and inter-organisational collaboration. She has been a pioneer in experimenting with new forms of knowledge generation as well as multi-stakeholder collaborations, developing, performing, and advancing high quality transdisciplinary science. She was a member of the Stockholm Resilience Centre board from the start of the Centre in 2007 until 2013, and chair of the board between 2014 and 2018. Today she is part of the Centre's International Science Advisory Council.
Jane Lubchenco
Jane Lubchenco, distinguished professor at Oregon State University, is a renowned marine ecologist and envinromental scientist, engaging science with society to craft solutions for sustainability. She was the U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, part of President Barack Obama's Science Team, and the first U.S. State Department Science Envoy for the Ocean. Previously, she co-chaired the expert group of the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. Lubchenco has received numerous awards and distinctions, is central to the SeaBOS initiative and served on the Centre's International Science Advisory Board.
Will Steffen
Will Steffen is considered the father of Earth system science. His ground-breaking work, which includes Planetary Boundaries, the great acceleration of the Anthropocene, planetary stewardship, and the risk of a hothouse Earth, has set the foundation for much of the research we do at Stockholm Resilience Centre. Steffen was a senior fellow at the Centre and collaborated closely with many of our researchers for decades. He was posted in Stockholm when he worked at the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme as executive director from 1998 to 2004 and often visited the Centre after that. The book Global Change and the Earth System: A Planet under Pressure, published in 2004 with Steffen as lead author, is a milestone.
Brian Walker
Brian Walker is widely praised for his work on developing resilience thinking and making it a fundamental concept in areas such as ecosystem management, economics, sustainable development, and disaster prevention policy. He directed the CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ecology for 15 years and is now honorary professor at CSIRO and the Australian National University. He has been instrumental in the Resilience Alliance and engaged in the Beijer Institute and is a long-term fellow of the Stockholm Resilience Centre. He was a member of the Centre board between 2007 and 2013. Walker received the Blue Planet Prize in 2018.
Stephen Carpenter
Stephen Carpenter was director and professor emeritus of the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has received many awards for his groundbreaking work, including the Stockholm International Water Prize and foreign membership of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Carpenter has been deeply engaged in the Resilience Alliance and the Beijer Institute and played a crucial part in establishing Stockholm Resilience Centre. He has been actively involved in the Centre's strategic and scientific development ever since. He was a board member between 2014 and 2018 while being part of countless publications and projects coming out of the Centre. Carpenter was a member of the Centre's International Science Advisory Council.
Marten Scheffer
Marten Scheffer is a professor based at Wageningen University and Research Centre. His research focuses on complexity and shifts in natural and social systems. Scheffer is praised for his efforts to collaborate across many disciplines and has been important to Stockholm Resilience Centre's scientific development. He is also active in the art-science interface. Today, he is a member of the Centre's International Science Advisory Council. Sceffer is one of the founders of the South American Institute for Resilience and Sustainability Studies and has received several awards including the Spinoza Prize.
Gretchen Daily
Gretchen Daily, a long-time partner and professor at Stanford University, is one of the world's foremost experts on ecosystem services and natural capital. In 2005, she co-founded the Natural Capital Project, an international organisation that helps empower green development and human well-being through policy and investments in nature. She was a Stockholm Resilience Centre board member between 2010 and 2017. Daily has received numerous awards, including the Volvo Environment Prize in 2012.
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
