William Clark

About

William Clark is the Harvey Brooks Research Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Trained as an ecologist, his research focuses on sustainability science, which involves understanding the interactions of human and environmental systems with the goal of advancing sustainable development. He is particularly interested in how institutional arrangements influence the linkage between knowledge and action in the sustainability arena. At Harvard, he co-directs the Sustainability Science Program. He has co-authored and edited several influential publications, including 'Pursuing Sustainability: A Guide to the Science and Practice,' 'Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management,' and 'Redesigning Rural Development.' Clark has also contributed to the field through his role as co-chair of the US National Research Council’s study 'Our Common Journey: A Transition Toward Sustainability.' He serves on the editorial board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science and is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His numerous awards include the MacArthur Prize, the Humboldt Prize, and teaching excellence awards from Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard College.

Research topics

• Political science
• Business
• Environmental resource management
• Environmental planning
• Medicine

Selected publications

• Sustainability Science: Toward a Synthesis

  Annual Review of Environment and Resources · 2020-08-04 · 357 citations

  articleOpen access1st author

  This review synthesizes diverse approaches that researchers have brought to bear on the challenge of sustainable development. We construct an integrated framework highlighting the union set of elements and relationships that those approaches have shown to be useful in explaining nature–society interactions in multiple contexts. Compelling evidence has accumulated that those interactions should be viewed as a globally interconnected, complex adaptive system in which heterogeneity, nonlinearity, a…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sustainability transitions in consumption-production systems

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2023-11-13 · 67 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The need for faster and deeper transitions toward more sustainable development pathways is now widely recognized. How to meet that need has been at the center of a growing body of academic research and real-world policy implementation. This paper presents our perspective on some of the most powerful insights that have emerged from this ongoing work. In particular, we highlight insights on how sustainability transitions can be usefully conceptualized, how they come about and evolve, and how they…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Migration and sustainable development

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2024-01-08 · 49 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  To understand the implications of migration for sustainable development requires a comprehensive consideration of a range of population movements and their feedback across space and time. This Perspective reviews emerging science at the interface of migration studies, demography, and sustainability, focusing on consequences of migration flows for nature-society interactions including on societal outcomes such as inequality; environmental causes and consequences of involuntary displacement; and p…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• System transitions research and sustainable development: Challenges, progress, and prospects

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2023-11-13 · 44 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans the biological, physical, and social sciences.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Progress in modeling dynamic systems for sustainable development

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2023-09-26 · 24 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This Perspective evaluates recent progress in modeling nature-society systems to inform sustainable development. We argue that recent work has begun to address longstanding and often-cited challenges in bringing modeling to bear on problems of sustainable development. For each of four stages of modeling practice-defining purpose, selecting components, analyzing interactions, and assessing interventions-we highlight examples of dynamical modeling methods and advances in their application that hav…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Integrating knowledge and policy for the management of natural resources in international development: The role of boundary organizations

  NSF · $334k · 2006–2009

Frequent coauthors

• Nancy M. Dickson

  Volkswagen Foundation

  39 shared

• Alicia G. Harley

  27 shared

• H. R. Hulpieu

  20 shared

• Henry D. Jacoby

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  18 shared

• M. Granger Morgan

  17 shared

• Jill Jäger

  Deutsches Institut für Urbanistik

  17 shared

• Ann Fisher

  16 shared

• Thomas J. Wilbanks

  Oak Ridge National Laboratory

  16 shared

Education

• PhD, Zoology

  University of British Columbia

  1979

• BSc

  Yale College

  1971

Awards & honors

• MacArthur Prize
• Humboldt Prize
• Kennedy School’s Carballo Award for excellence in teaching
• Harvard College Phi Beta Kappa Prize for Excellence in Teach…

Similar researchers at Harvard University

• Joseph Newhouseh-104
• Richard Zeckhauserh-101
• Gordon Hansonh-99