Sander van der Leeuw

An archeologist and historian, Sander van der Leeuw pioneered the application of the Complex Adaptive Systems approach to socio-environmental challenges, technology and innovation. He coordinated the ARCHAEOMEDES research program (1991-2000) using the CAS perspective on sustainability challenges in S. Europe – the first of its kind worldwide. He held teaching positions in Amsterdam, Leyden, Cambridge and Paris (Sorbonne), was founding director of Arizona State University’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change and dean of its School of Sustainability. He is Fellow of the AAAS, Honorary Fellow of RIHN (Kyoto, Japan), Member of the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, External Faculty Fellow of the Santa Fe Institute, and Corresponding Member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences. He held a Chair at the Institut Universitaire de France. In 2012, he was awarded the title "Champion of the Earth for Science and Innovation" by UNEP, and in 2023 the lifetime research award of the Shanghai Archaeological Forum, of the PRC.

Book: Social Sustainability, Past and Future: Undoing Unintended Consequences for the Earth’s Survival, Cambridge University Press 2020: https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/811395DC3A8D82EAD39C45657B2FD1AD/9781108498692AR.pdf/Social_Sustainability__Past_and_Future.pdf?event-type=FTLA