Invitation of visiting professor, Arun Agrawal, University of Michigan

Prof.

Arun Agrawal (School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan) is a world renowned scholar on climate change politics. He was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences 2018.

He has successfully combined theoretically profound inquiries with rich field based research, particularly in relation to tropical forest governance.

Currently he focus on how social assistance programs in lower and middle income countries (India and Indonesia) can support resource-dependent households and reduce their climate change related risks.

He has pioneered the Global Sustainability and Development Conference, and online courses and workshops dedicated to the exploration of environment and sustainability. His online initiatives are particularly relevant under Covid-19 conditions. He is at the final stage of a 6-year project on social assistance and local climate resilience.

His period in Sweden thus provides opportunities for peer interactions necessary to complete research products, including journal manuscripts (some co-authored with Swedish colleagues), and a book manuscript comparing the features and outcomes of two major social assistance programs. Prof.

Agrawal has collaborated with LUCSUS scholars before (notably in the IPCC) and there is an excellent match with several ongoing research projects at LUCSUS.

He will also strengthen collaboration with other Swedish researchers, notably at Stockholm and Uppsala Universities, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Science.