Lawrence Susskind

Lawrence Susskind has served in a variety of roles at MIT over the past four decades including Head of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning and founder of DUSP’s Environmental Policy and Planning Group, which he currently heads. He teaches full time at MIT, advises a large group of doctoral students and supervises a number of research teams at the MIT Science Impact Collaborative (SIC), including the MIT-UTM Malaysia Sustainable Cities Program. The MIT SIC is a long-term research enterprise focusing on innovative approaches to public engagement in resource management and sustainable development. Currently MIT SIC is working on hydropower in Southern Chile, energy development in Mexico, transboundary water disputes in Africa and sustainable city development in Malaysia. He founded, and is currently Chief Knowledge Officer, of the Consensus Building Institute. This is a Cambridge-based, not-for-profit that provides mediation and negotiation training services in many parts of the world. CBI has been involved with a wide range of disputes including the mediation of Bedouin land claims in Israel, air quality management in Mexico City, and strategies for resolving facility siting disputes in Canada, Holland, Finland and Korea. Professor Susskind was one of the founders, 25 year ago, of the interuniversity Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School. He is currently Vice-Chair for Instruction at PON and offers executive training including a Master Class in Negotiation and Advanced Meditation Training for Lawyers. He co-directs the MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program that focuses on land rights of indigenous peoples around the world, negotiation of transboundary water disputes, resolution of disputes over sacred land and the resolution of science-intensive policy disputes. At PON, he is also Director of the Teaching Negotiation Resource Center (TNRC) where he has produced more than 50 role play simulations and numerous teaching videos. Professor Susskind is the author or co-author of twenty books including, most recently, Managing Climate Risks in Coastal Communities (Anthem Press, 2015), Environmental Diplomacy (Oxford Press Second Edition, 2014), Good for You, Great for Me (Public Affairs, 2014), Water Diplomacy (Resources for the Future, 2012), and Breaking Robert’s Rules (Oxford, 2006). His books have been republished in eight languages. For more information, please see his website at www.lawrencesusskind.com.