On his recent visit to South Africa U.S. President Barack Obama announced a new phase of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) - the Washington Fellowship. This new program is for young professionals ages 25-35 and offers a 6 week leadership program on the campus of a U.S. university, followed by a one week presidential summit in Washington, DC. The program will take place in June/July 2014.  Selected participants in this program are going to have the opportunity to interact with Heads of State and leaders from civil society, private and public sector across the region and from the US. [...]

The International Social Science Council (ISSC) and the International Council for Science (ICSU), in collaboration with the International Network of Next Generation Ecologists (INNGE) and Institute for New Economic Thinking's Young Scholars Initiative (INET YSI), are planning to assemble a group of early career researchers with diverse backgrounds and research perspectives to reflect on ecosystems and human well-being in the transition towards green economies and debate relevant issues as part of a series of conferences on Integrated Science that are funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The aim is to bring together creative multidimensional, interdisciplinary and trans- disciplinary perspectives [...]

We invite applications for Masters, PhD, and postdoctoral positions to conduct research on organisational innovation and intermediation in social-ecological systems. Successful applicants will become part of a team of researchers led by Prof Ralph Hamann at the UCT Graduate School of Business, in collaboration with other members of the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town. The overarching purpose of this research programme is to generate theoretically and practically relevant knowledge on why and how organisations innovate to respond to social-ecological problems. We focus on large businesses, municipalities, or collaborative intermediaries, and the geographic setting for [...]

Up to four Doctoral and Masters Research Bursaries have been established at the University of Cape Town's African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI). The work will be focused within the Bergrivier Transdisciplinary Research Programme which includes partners from the Western Cape Government, the Bergrivier Municipality and other business and civil society participants. The aim is to develop a range of interdisciplinary activities that will support the Bergrivier Municipality in their efforts to plan and respond to the challenges of climate change and development. Students will work within transdisciplinary teams of researchers and practitioners from different departments, disciplines and backgrounds. Research [...]

For young climate experts from transition and developing countries interested in conducting a project in Germany. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s fellowship programme allows future leaders to spend a year in Germany working on a research-related project of their own choice in the field of climate protection. Fellows are free to choose their own hosts. Submit an application if you come from a non-European transition or developing country and are involved with issues relating to the scientific, engineering, legal, economic or social aspects of climate change. Up to 20 fellowships will be granted, funded under the Federal Environment Ministry’s International Climate [...]

  The Green Economy manager in the Western Cape Provincial Government, Charline Mouton, is looking to appoint an intern for a year. The intern will a) assist in the implementation of Green Economy projects covering a variety of sub sectors, i.e. waste, water, built environment etc.; and b) assist with the 110% Green programme, including managing social media and website content; and c) provide general support to the Green Economy programme.   Requirements: Masters level student, preferably someone that has taken courses in Environmental Economics in their 4th year. Ideally, the candidate should be able to start in December 2013 or January [...]

  Ref.nr SU FV-2901-13 Closing date: 2013-11-20   Project title: Middlemen as crucial social-ecological linkages for achieving sustainable small-scale fisheries   Project description Understanding how global drivers, such as seafood trade, affect relations between fishers and market agents is essential to increase fishers’ returns, reduce poverty and better sustain fisheries resources. Curbing exploitation locally has focused on restricting fishers’ effort, but global demands create exogenous pressure that is hard for small-scale operators to withstand. Hence, management must extend up the commodity chain and middlemen are an important link. They provide fishers with incentives, markets access, and many services but little [...]

STEPS Centre Summer School University of Sussex, 12-23 May 2014 The STEPS Centre invites applications to take part in its third annual Summer School.   Applications are invited from highly-motivated doctoral and postdoctoral researchers or those with equivalent experience, working in fields around development studies, science and technology studies, innovation and policy studies, and across agricultural, health, water or energy issues.   Participants will explore the theme of pathways to sustainability through a mixture of workshops, lectures, outdoor events and focused interaction with STEPS Centre members. The Summer School takes place on the Sussex University campus, near Brighton, UK.   [...]

Two-year fellowship available immediately to work with an interdisciplinary team to evaluate the impacts of marine conservation interventions, focusing on analyzing monitoring data for marine protected areas. Fellow will be in residence at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) facilities at the University of Maryland in Annapolis, MD, and will also spend significant time at WWF-US offices in Washington, D.C. For earliest consideration, apply by October 20, 2013. The Luc Hoffmann Institute, based at WWF International, Switzerland, in partnership with the National Social-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), seeks a postdoctoral fellow to work with an interdisciplinary Pursuit/Collaborative Research Team (CRT) to evaluate [...]

It is with pleasure that we share with you the launch of the Network for Business Sustainability South Africa (NBS:SA), an affiliate of the Network for Business Sustainability (NBS). NBS is an award-winning, internationally recognised initiative linking research and practice. Established as a non-profit, NBS is a powerful and growing network of international academic experts and business leaders. NBS produces authoritative resources on important sustainability issues – with the goal of shaping management practice and research. NBS:SA has adapted the NBS model to respond to the South African context, in order to better make use of and to build the [...]