News

New research institute tackles environmental/socio-economic balance for a sustainable society

Media Release, Tuesday 2 December 2008

The University of Melbourne officially launched its Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute - a key inter-disciplinary research institute whose work will advance the goal of a sustainable society in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region - on 2 December 2008.

Research at the Institute will focus on issues surrounding the sharing of resources between humans and their physical environment, particularly in the areas of agriculture, sustainable cities, risk and resilience including climate change and water.

MSSI aims to address the socio-economic aspects of environmental change as well as the biological and physical issues.

More information on MSSI can be found at www.sustainable.unimelb.edu.au/

The Institute was officially launched by eminent economic and policy thinker Professor Michael Hanemann, Professor of Agricultural & Resource Economics and Director of the California Climate Change Center at the University of California Berkeley, with University Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Peter Rathjen.

A longstanding contributor to discussions of climate change and water policy in California, Professor Hanemann commented at the launch on the possibilities for new directions in American and global policies for mitigating climate change and ameliorating its impacts, following upon the election to the US Presidency of Barack Obama.

MSSI Interim Director Professor Ruth Fincher says the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute will work with external partners on important problems and bring together researchers in teams across disciplines in a way has not been possible before. “Our core research focus is increasing the sustainability and resilience of our communities, individuals, country and region,” she says.

“For a truly sustainable society we must address the needs of industry, the public sector at all levels of government, and the non-government sector. The Institute will also bring new sustainability options into the public domain, for debate, policy consideration and public scrutiny.”

The Institute also hosted the University’s new federally-funded research network ‘Social, Economic and Institutional Dimensions of Climate Change Adaptation’, led by Associate Professor Jon Barnett.