Notre Dame Seminars on Sustainability
The Notre Dame Seminars on Sustainability Series is a signature lecture series organized by the Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative that brings global sustainability leaders and world-class scholars to campus for knowledge sharing and engagement with the Notre Dame community. Beyond sharing cutting-edge research, we hope to help build a vibrant, connected community of sustainability-minded researchers, students, and professionals across campus.
All seminars take place on Fridays from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM in 129 DeBartolo Hall, immediately followed by lunch in 125 DeBartolo Hall. We invite all attendees to stay afterward for lunch, conversation, and fellowship as we work together to grow this vital network on campus.
Fall 2026 Seminars on Sustainability
September 11
Sera Young, Professor of Anthropology, co-Director for the Center for Water, and the Morton O. Schapiro Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University.
Title: “Making water insecurity visible: The Water Insecurity Experiences Scales" (Rescheduled from March 27, 2026)
October 2
Anthony Bebbington, International Program Director for Natural Resources and Climate Justice at the Ford Foundation a Professor of Geography at Clark University.
Title: "Philanthropy and climate justice: navigating a contemporary Myth of Sisyphus"
October 9
Janet Franklin, Endowed Campanile Foundation Professor of Geography, Center for Open Geospatial Sciences at San Diego State University.
Title: "Science is the Poetry of Nature"
October 30
Spencer Banzhaf, Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Director of the Center for Environmental and Resource Economics Policy (CEnREP) at North Carolina State University.
Title: "Including Nature in Cap-and-Trade Markets"
November 6
Justin Farrell ('14), Professor of Sociology at the Yale School of the Environment.
Talk Title TBA
November 20
Benjamin Sovacool, Director of the Institute for Global Sustainability (IGS), Professor in the Department of Earth & Environment at Boston University.
Title: "Conceptual frameworks and new frontiers in energy justice"
December 4
Elena Bennett, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Sustainability Science at McGill University.
Title: "Measuring what Matters: A social-ecological systems ecologist’s perspective"
December 11
Maximilian Auffhammer, George Pardee Jr. Professor of International Sustainable Development and Chair of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate at the University of California, Berkeley.
Talk Title TBA