Pamela Matson

Tellus Mater Distinguished Fellow in Sustainability Studies (2018-2019)

The Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Sustainability Studies at the University of Cambridge explores the many aspects of how sustainability can be applied in global society now and in the future. Of pressing importance, this initiative brings Visiting Professors with multidisciplinary expertise in the environment, business, social sciences, and policy to address how sustainability can be an opportunity rather than a burden.

The Visiting Professorship in Sustainability Studies is made possible by the generous support of the Tellus Mater Foundation and is hosted by Trinity Hall, Cambridge. The Professorship has now been renamed ‘The Tellus Mater Distinguished Fellowship’ and is managed by UCCRI in cooperation with the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust. 

Professor Matson is an interdisciplinary sustainability scientist, academic leader and organizational strategist. Her research addresses a range of environment and sustainability issues, including agricultural systems and vulnerability and resilience of people and places to climate change.

In her lecture Professor Matson outlined how sustainability is a term widely used by many different groups – from corporations to the international development community, academic institutions and non-profits – sometimes with different meanings and different goals. Drawing common threads among the different uses, she illustrated how systems thinking and a capital assets framework could be used to increase the likelihood of reaching sustainability goals.

Watch the video here.