About the Population-Environment Research Network

Mission and Organization
Scientific Committee
Staff
Sponsors

Mission and Organization

PERN's mission is to facilitate scientific analysis and dialogue about population-environment relationships. It is an Internet-based network that is open and free to all who are interested in population-environment research. PERN's activities include the collection and annotation of relevant web-links, recent publications, and syllabi in an online database, hosting cyberseminars, and the provision of information on meetings, grant and job opportunities and member research.

The Population-Environment Research Network was launched in 2001 by the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP).  PERN is a scientific panel of IUSSP and is a sustained partner of Future Earth, a global research platform to accelerate our transformations to a sustainable world. PERN receives in-kind support from the NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC), managed by the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) at Columbia University, which hosts the website.  Additional funding sources since PERN's inception can be found on the bottom of this page.

PERN is managed by senior population-environment scientists, the co-Coordinators (Drs. Adamo and de Sherbinin), whose work is guided by a Scientific Committee of internationally recognized experts and liaisons from the sponsoring institutions.

PERN is fully Internet based, which promotes efficiency and inclusiveness. Via the Internet, PERN does the following:

  • PERN collects and disseminates ongoing, new, and classic work in the population-environment field in an online eLibrary, which includes short abstracts and special keyword search terms. 
  • PERN facilitates global dialogue between scientists by holding regular cyberseminars on selected topics, and by promoting and archiving (on the Internet) real-time workshops and conference sessions.
  • PERN collects syllabi on population-environment courses from around the world and makes them easily available.
  • PERN provides member services such as a regular What's New with upcoming conferences, workshops, job and grant opportunities, and a keyword-driven searchable member database. Members sign up free online.

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Scientific Committee

  • Dr. Kathryn Grace, Assistant Professor, Geography, Environment and Society, University of Minnesota, USA (Chairperson)
  • Dr. Roberto Ariel Abeldaño, Full Professor, Demography, University of Sierra Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico
  • Dr. Hany M. Ayad, Professor of Urban Planning, Alexandria University, Egypt
  • Dr. Ingrid Boas, Associate Professor, Wageningen University, Netherlands
  • Dr. Marion Borderon, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and Regional Research
    University of Vienna, Austria
  • Dr. Ruishan Chen, Professor, School of Design, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China
  • Dr. Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe, Professor, Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS), College of Humanities, University of Ghana, Ghana
  • Dr. Sabine Henry, Professor in Geography, University of Namur, Belgium
  • Dr. Roman Hoffmann, Researcher, Vienna Institute of Demography, Austria
  • Dr. Bryan Jones, Assistant Professor, Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, CUNY Baruch, USA
  • Dr. Samir K.C., Professor, Asian Demographic Research Institute, Shanghai University; and Project Director, World Population, IIASA, Austria/China
  • Dr. César Augusto Marques da Silva, Researcher/Professor, Graduate Programs Coordinator, National School of Statistical Sciences (Escola Nacional de Ciências Estatísticas - ENCE), IBGE, Brazil
  • Dr. Karen McNamara, Senior Lecturer, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Queensland, Australia
  • Dr. William Pan, Associate Professor of Global Environmental Health, Duke University, USA
  • Dr. Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Head of Climate Science and Impacts and a Scientific Advisor, Climate Analytics, USA
  • Dr. Jacob Schewe, Senior Scientist, Transformation Pathways, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany
  • Dr. Elizabeth Tellman, Assistant Professor, School of Geography, Development & Environment, University of Arizona, USA

Ex-Officio Members:

Former members with affiliations who have served on the scientific committee: Dr. Rimjhim Aggarwal (Arizona State University, USA), Dr. Alisson Barbieri* (Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil), Dr. Simon Batterbury (University of Melbourne, Australia), Dr. Richard Bilsborrow (University of North Carolina, USA), Dr. Jason Bremner (Population, Health and Environment, Population Reference Bureau, USA), Dr. David Lopez-Carr (University of California at Santa Barbara, USA), Dr. Sara Curran (Univ. of Washington, USA), Dr. Roberto do Carmo (Dept of Demography and Population Studies Unit, University of Campinas, Brazil), Dr. Stephanie Dos Santos (Laboratory for Population, Environment, and Development, Institute for Development Research, France), Dr. Christophe Guilmoto (CICRED, France), Dr. Sabine Henry (Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix, Belgium), Dr. Daniel Hogan (NEPO, Univ. of Campinas, Brazil), Dr. Diana Hummel* (Institute for Social-Ecological Research, Germany), Dr. Lori Hunter* (University of Colorado at Boulder, USA), Dr. Andres Ignacio (Planning and Geomatics, Environmental Science for Social Change (non-profit), Philippines), Dr. Haydea Izazola* (Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco, Mexico), Dr. Dominic Kniveton (University of Sussex, UK), Dr. Leiwen Jiang (Population Council; and Shanghai University, USA/China), Dr. Jack Liu (Michigan State Univ., USA), Dr. Wolfgang Lutz (IIASA, Austria), Dr. Landis MacKellar* (Vienna Demographic Institute and IIASA, Austria), Dr. Robin Marsh (University of California at Berkeley, USA), Dr. Vinod Mishra* (Demographic and Health Survey, Macro Inc., USA), Dr. Elma Montaña (Institute of Human, Social and Environmental Sciences (INCIHUSA), CONICET, Argentina), Dr. Raya Muttarak* (University of East Anglia, UK; IIASA, Austria), Dr. Kwasi Nsiah-Gyabaah (Sunyani Polytechnic, Ghana), Dr. Brian O'Neill (IIASA, Austria, and Brown University, USA), Dr. Landy Lizbeth Sanchez Peña* (El Colegio de México, Mexico), Dr. Maano Ramutsindela (Environmental and Geographical Science Department of the University of Cape Town, South Africa), Dr. Xizhe Peng (Fudan Univ., China), Dr. Atiqur Rahman (Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, India), Dr. David Rain (George Washington University, USA), Dr. Ronald Rindfuss* (Univ. of North Carolina and Carolina Population Center, USA), Dr. Yan Tan* (University of Adelaide, Australia),  Dr. Michael Teitelbaum (Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, USA), Dr. Wayne Twine (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa), Mr. Hamdou-Rabby Wane (UN Economic Commission for Africa, Ethiopia), Dr. Brooke Wilmsen (La Trobe University, Australia), Dr. David Wrathall (Oregon State University, USA), and Dr. Yongyuan Yin (Adaptation and Impacts Research Group, Environment Canada and the UBC School of Forestry, Canada), Dr. Leo C. Zulu (Department of Geography, Michigan State University, USA).

*Former chair persons of the SC.

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Staff

Network co-Coordinators:

  • Dr. Susana Beatriz Adamo, Research Scientist, Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University, Palisades, New York.
  • Dr. Alex de Sherbinin, Associate Director for Science Applications, Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University, Palisades, New York.

Other Network Staff:

  • Senior Network Assistant: Ms. Lisa Lukang, Information Specialist, CIESIN, Columbia University.
  • Webmaster: Ms. Annie Gerard, Senior Web Designer, CIESIN, Columbia University.
  • PERN Social Media Handlers: Dr. Ana Escoto (UNAM) and Dr. Igor Johansen (Universidade de São Paulo)

Former PERN Staff:

  • Dr. Catherine Marquette (co-Coordinator 2000-2002)
  • Dr. Laura Murphy (co-Coordinator 2000-2002)
  • Dr. Annababette Wils (Coordinator 2002-2003)

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Sponsors

PERN was launched in February 2001 with initial funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur foundation. Since its inception PERN has received in kind technical support for web site development/maintenence and network management from the NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). 

Over the years, the Network has received modest financial support from a number of donors (listed in alphabetical order):

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