This week marks the start of the Spring 2023 Seminar Series sponsored by the George Perkins Marsh Institute and Jeanne X. Kasperson Library. Over the course of the semester, session topics will range from reducing HIV transmission in Zimbabwe to ensuring climate change adaptation success.
Established in 1990, the George Perkins Marsh Institute — named for the 19th-century conservationist who kept records of how humans were changing the natural environment — grew out of earlier research clusters at Clark that focused on topics like environmental risk and hazards, the potential of computer technology and remotely sensed imagery to map and analyze the environment, and the ways humans have shaped and are shaped by nature. (Read “A world of difference” from the fall 2015 issue of Clark magazine.)
Organizations both public and private draw on the expertise within the Marsh Institute to address the array of issues around the ongoing and profound transformation of human and natural systems. Work at the institute is centered on the research themes of socioecological systems and sustainability science, earth system science, and institutions and human development, which cover topics such as climate change impacts and adaptation, local and global food security, sustainable communities, and natural resource extraction.
The Jeanne X. Kasperson Research Library offers one of the most extensive collections in North America on environmental risk and hazards, environment and development, and the human dimensions of global environmental change.
Each year, the Marsh Institute and Kasperson Library sponsor a fall and spring series of formal lectures and seminars that expose faculty and students to contemporary research on human-environment interactions, foster rich discussions, and catalyze future research.
All seminars are open to the public and will take place from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. in the Lurie Conference Room on the first floor of the University Center, unless otherwise noted. A 45-minute presentation will be followed by 15 minutes of questions and discussion; interaction with speakers is encouraged. Visit the Marsh Institute Calendar of Events for more information.
Series lectures include:
Deworming as HIV Prevention for Young Women: Evidence from Zimbabwe
Thursday, Jan. 26:
Jon Denton Schneider, assistant professor of economics, will discuss his research on whether Zimbabwe’s school-based deworming interventions also reduce girls’ chances of contracting HIV as young women, and if that, in turn, could have an effect on marriage market matching.
Sustainable and Transparent Soy Supply Chains? A Political Ecology Critique of Neo-Malthusianism and Eco-Modernization Theory
Thursday, Feb. 23
Gustavo Oliveira, assistant professor of geography, will critique the assumptions and goals that define global efforts to institute a moratorium on soy exports from extensively deforested land in the Amazon.
Understanding requirements for IRB Approval and Exemption Under the Revised Common Rule: How to (Without Frustration) Compose a Successful Protocol for Human Subjects Research
Thursday, March 23
In this presentation for Clark researchers, Professor Robert Johnston, director of the George Perkins Marsh Institute and chair of the University’s Institutional Research Board (IRB), will be joined by IRB administrator Linda Cote for a workshop on IRB approvals and protocols.
Acting on Climate Change Adaptation — When Science, Policy, and Practice Don’t Align
Thursday, March 30, 4:30–6 p.m.
Lisa Schipper, professor of geography at the University of Bonn, will present the Albert, Norma and Howard ’77 Geller Lecture. Schipper’s research focuses on adaptation to climate change in developing countries, including factors like gender, religion, and culture, to understand what drives vulnerability.
