The IASC Medal is awarded in recognition of exceptional and sustained contributions to the understanding of the Arctic. This year, IASC recognizes Dr. Oran Young's Outstanding Achievement to Understand Arctic Institutional Dynamics, International Regimes, and Environmental Policy.
Dr. Young is professor emeritus and co-director of the Program on Governance for Sustainable Development at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at the University of California (Santa Barbara). He has an outstanding record of oral and written contributions in Arctic governance and international collaboration, with over 100 articles, multiple dozens of books and book chapters in outlets such as Science, Nature, Foreign Policy, International Organization, World Politics, and Global Environmental Politics. Dr. Young has maintained broad community service including participation as an IASC vice-president from 1994-2000 and sustained advocacy for inclusion of social sciences in multiple organizations towards a holistic approach to Arctic studies. During his esteemed career he facilitated the development of the Arctic Council, the University of the Arctic, and other Arctic governance groups. Oran´s work has had high-level impacts in the Arctic Council, especially through the Sustainable Development Working Group, as well as through involvement in a range of Arctic stakeholders collaborations, communities, and the scientific community. Dr. Young has also mentored over 50 graduate students, including 25 PhD students, and seven post-doctoral scholars. Based on his continuous and extremely productive career focus on Arctic environmental affairs, resource management and international regimes, and the human dimensions of Arctic change, IASC is honored to award Dr. Oran Young the 2018 IASC Medal.
Dr. Young will receive the Medal and deliver a keynote lecture at Polar2018 in Davos, Switzerland.
IASC would like to thank this year's Medal Commitee for their service: Jackie Grebmeier (Chair), Joan Nymand Larsen, Tetsuo Ohata, Allison Fong, and Josef Elster. Photo courtesy Oran Young.
Short bio: Oran Young is professor emeritus and co-director of the Program on Governance for Sustainable Development at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at the University of California (Santa Barbara). His research focuses on theoretical issues relating to the roles of social institutions as governance systems with applications to matters of governance relating to climate change, marine systems, and the polar regions. He also does comparative research on environmental governance in China and the United States. Dr. Young served for six years as founding chair of the Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change of the US National Academy of Sciences. He chaired the Scientific Steering Committee of the international project on the Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (IDGEC). He was a founding co-chair of the Global Carbon Project and from 2005 to 2010 chaired the Scientific Committee of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change. An expert on Arctic issues, Dr. Young chaired the Steering Committee of the Arctic Governance Project and is the science advisor to the North Pacific Arctic Conferences. Past service in this realm includes co-chair of the Working Group on Arctic International Relations, co-chair of the NAS Committee on Arctic Social Science, member of the US Polar Research Board, founding board member of the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States, vice-president of the International Arctic Science Committee, chair of the Board of Governors of the University of the Arctic, consultant to the Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region, and co-chair of the 2004 Arctic Human Development Report. He is the author or co-author of more than 30 books. His recent books include On Environmental Governance: Sustainability, Efficiency, and Equity (2013) and Governing Complex Systems: Social Capital for the Anthropocene (2017).