Upcoming (& Recent) Events & Programs

The Kozmetsky Center is delighted to feature our first lecture event for the 2021 academic year with internationally-renowned economics professor and global leader on sustainable development, Dr. Phoebe Koundouri of the School of Economics at Athens University of Economics and Business on Tuesday September 28 at 10:00 AM (Central Time).   Professor Koundouri is widely recognized for innovative, human-centric, interdisciplinary systems research and policy approaches supporting the sustainable interaction between nature, society, and the economy. Dr. Koundouri is the Founder and Scientific Director of the Research Laboratory on Socio-Economic and Environmental Sustainability (ReSEES) at Athens University of Economics and Business, focusing on interdisciplinary research on socio-economic and environmental systems. She is also Affiliated Professor at the ATHENA Research and Innovation Center where she founded and directs the Sustainable Development Unit and the EIT Climate-KIC Hub Greece of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, the latter focusing on accelerating technological and social innovations for use in the transition to a climate neutral economy. She serves as co-Chair of United Nations Sustainable Development Network (UN SDSN) -Europe, Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Centre for Research on the Environment and the Economy (ICRE8) and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Forest Institute. Professor Koundouri is one of the Commissioners for the Lancet Commission on COVID-19 for which she co-chairs the "Jobs-based Green Recovery” Task Force. Dr. Koundouri leads the UN SDSN Senior Working Group on "Transformation Pathways for the implementation of EGD and the SDGs", co-leads the UN SDSN Sustainable Shipping and Ports and Shipping Initiative, and the UN SDSN 4-seas (Mediterranean, Black, Caspian and Aral Seas) Blue Growth Initiative. She serves as a scientific advisor to the European Commission, World Bank, European Investment Bank, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, World Health Organization, OECD, UN and NATO. Since 1997, Dr. Koundouri has coordinated more than 100 interdisciplinary research projects, on all five continents, focused on combinations of Sustainable Development, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, Behavioral Economics and Econometrics, Economics of Wellbeing and Happiness, Natural Resource-Food-Energy Nexus, Smart Water Systems, Ecosystem Services Valuation, Blue Growth, Circular Economy, Systems Innovation, Innovation Acceleration and Commercialization.  Professor Koundouri and her interdisciplinary team (more than 200 researchers) have produced research and policy results that contributing to accelerating innovation for the enablement of Sustainable Development and shaping European and national policies.  Prior to joining the Athens University of Economics and Business, Professor Koundouri held academic positions at the University of Cambridge, University College London, University of Reading and London School of Economics. She holds a PhD and MPhil in Economics and Econometrics from the University of Cambridge (UK).

Registration for the ZOOM Webinar “The Urgency for Advancing Global Sustainable Development” is available at https://stedwards.zoom.us/s/93300301262