Govindan Parayil
Biografia
Originally from Kerala, India, professor Parayil is the Dean of the Patel College of Global Sustainability at the University of South Florida. A leading expert in the field of global sustainability, technology and society, Dr. Parayil follows an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability – from describing problems to finding solutions that are user-focused, innovation-oriented and equitable to all stakeholders.
He earned his Ph.D. at Virginia Tech in Science and Technology Studies. He was a Rockefeller Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Global Environmental Change at Cornell University. He was the Vice- Rector of the United Nations University in Tokyo, Japan (2008-2014) and Director of the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (2009-2013), in Tokyo, Japan. He was a Full Professor of Science, Technology and Innovation at the University of Oslo, Norway.
Dr. Parayil's research interests include sustainability science; technology and innovation; climate change, energy policy; and multi-level transition toward global sustainability. He has authored, edited and co-edited five books and published over forty peer-reviewed articles, as well as numerous book chapters. He has lived, worked and traveled in over sixty countries across all continents. Dr. Parayil has had many opportunities to interact with communities in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, which gave him a unique lens through which to look at and understand the social, economic and environmental sustainability challenges facing global communities.
