Calestous Juma

professor, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Born in Kenya, Calestous Juma is an internationally recognized authority in the application of science and technology to sustainable development worldwide. He is Professor of the Practice of International Development and Director of the Science, Technology and Globalization Project at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Professor Juma has been elected to several academies, including the Royal Society of London, the US National Academy of Sciences, the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World and the African Academy of Sciences. He is Special Advisor to the International Whaling Commission. He coordinated the Task Force on Science, Technology and Innovation of the UN Millennium Project, commissioned by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and co-chaired the High-Level African Panel on Modern Biotechnology of the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa ’s Development. He is former Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, founding Executive Director of the African Centre for Technology Studies in Nairobi , and former Chancellor of the University of Guyana . He has won several international awards, including the Pew Scholars Award in Conservation and the Environment, the United Nations Global 500 Award and the Henry Shaw Medal. He holds a DPhil in Science and Technology Policy Studies from the University of Sussex (UK). His research interests include: evolutionary and systems theory; science and technology policy studies; institutional change; biotechnology and biological diversity; and international environmental policy. His major works include Long-Run Economics (Pinter, 1987); The Gene Hunters (Princeton University Press and Zed Books, 1989); Innovation and Sovereignty (ACTS Press, 1989), Science, Technology and Economic Growth (UN University, 2000) Innovation (Earthscan, 2005) and Going for Growth (Smith Institute, 2005). He is Editor of the International Journal of Technology and Globalisation and the International Journal of Biotechnology. He is completing a book on resistance to new technologies.