Academic Highlight: David Orr

David W Orr
Head of Environmental Studies Program
Oberlin College
Oberlin, Ohio

Contributing editor of Conservation Biology

Selected Books:

1. Design on the Edge: The Making of a High Performance Building (MIT Press, 2006)
   
2. The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment (Island Press, 2004)
   
3. The Nature of Design: Ecology, Culture and Human Intention (Oxford, 2002)
   
4. Earth in Mind (Island, 1994/2004)
   
5. Ecological Literacy (SUNY, 1992)
   
6. The Global Predicament (North Carolina, 1979)
   
7. The Campus and Environmental Responsibility (Jossey-Bass, 1992)
   
   Selected Publications:
   
8. Four challenges of sustainability [pdf], Conservation Biology, 2002
   
9. Conservation in Context Framing Sustainability, Conservation Biology, 2006, 20(2), pp.265-268
   
10. Hope in hard times, Conservation Biology, 2004, 18(2), pp. 295-298
    
11. Death and resurrection: The future of environmentalism, 2005, 19(4)

PHD Programs to consider

UC Berkeley - Dept of Env Sci, Policy and Management

Oxford University - Center for the Environment

Yale - School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

Stanford - Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Environment and Resources

UCLA - Department of Geography (Jared Diamond!)

Cambridge - Department of Geography

UCSB - Bren School or Dept of Geog

University College London (UCL) - Department of Geography

University of Wisconsin, Madison - Dept of Geography with minor in Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies (Karl Zimmerer, Yi Fu Tuan teaches here!)

UBC - department of geography

Arizona State University - School of Sustainability

Columbia University - PhD in Sustainable Development (Jeffrey Sachs is codirector!) But must do another masters thesis again in this program. Very weird.

Leeds University - PHD in Sustainability Research

Possible Journals

1. Human Ecology An Interdisciplinary Journal
Ranking: 10 out of 53 in Environmental Studies
Published by: Hunter College, City University of New York, Anthropology Dept

2. Environmental Conservation
Ranking: 6 out of 100 in Environmental Sciences
Published by: Foundation for Environmental Conservation, UK

3. Journal for Nature Conservation
Ranking: ??
Published by: European Centre for Nature Conservation (ECNC), NL

4. Conservation Biology
Ranking: 3 out of 100 in Environmental Sciences
Published by: Society for Conservation Biology

5. The International Journal of Inclusive Democracy
Ranking: ??
Published by: International Network for Inclusive Democracy

6. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management
Ranking: 1 of 53 in Environmental Studies
Published by: Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE)

7. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
Ranking: 50 of 100 in Environmental Science
Published by: Elsevier

8. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture
Ranking: 19 of 38 in Agriculture Multidisciplinary
Published by: Food Products Press

7. Annals of the Association of American Geographers
Ranking: 5 of 38 in Geography
Published by: Association of American Geographers

8. Agriculture and Human Values
Ranking: 16 of 38 in Agriculture Multidisciplinary
Published by: Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society

9. Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy
Ranking: ??
Published by: e-journal

10. Asia Pacific Viewpoint
Ranking: ??
Published by: Blackwell Publishing

11. Landscape Research
Ranking: ??
Published by: Routledge

12. Environment
Ranking: 68 of 100 in environmental sciences
Published by: ??

13. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology
Ranking: ??
Published by: Sapiens Publishing

14. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography
Ranking: ??
Published by: Swedish Council for Research in Humanities and Social Sciences

15. Sustainability Science
Ranking:
Published by: Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science & University of Tokyo

16. Asian Journal of Social Science
Ranking:
Published by: BRILL

Responsibilities of a Grad Student

Being a paid student has lots of responsibilities.

1) Research - primary research and lit review
2) Publish - to get grants and job next time
3) Grants - no money no talk
4) Teach - part of scholarship and experience for job next time
5) Conference - present papers and network for jobs
6) Coursework - still must attend classes
7) Write - at the end of the day still must write the damn thesis
8) Future Career - Must apply for PHD before finish masters

The worst part of all this is that there's an expiry on all the good things in life. Some grants and scholarships have age limit. Even money expire. Damn ageists!

Often, 25 years old is the limit for certain grants and the PHD overseas scholarship from NUS is for those under 30. If I take 2 years to do Masters, I will be 28 when I graduate. That only gives me 2 years leeway for the PHD scholarship from NUS. I think I must apply ASAP.

No wonder people "behind" like me feel the need to expedite matters. Maybe I should do the same too! Perhaps I can finish in one year!

NUS funds

Graduate Student Project Fund allows up to $400 which can be used for travel expenses in my field work.

FASS Graduate Research Support Scheme allows up to $3000 in the course of my candidature.

Conference funds is a whole different thing altogether and I think I only get to spend about $2000 in the course of my candidature.

Now I just have to find super cheap everything to cover my costs and pray that the Toyota Foundation funding comes through.

Other possible funds

Here's a list of funding agencies compiled by the European Tropical Forest Research Network but the list has been rather limiting for me since I'm not really doing forestry perse.

For future reference, the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) also offers a very diverse range of fellowships but for doctoral or post-doc only.

The Association for Asian Studies in the North Americas also has a comprehensive list of grants but I think it's not international.

For future reference, the American Association of University Women do provide quite a list, especially the international fellowship.

At the end of the day, here's the scholarship that funded Danwei in the US. NUS offers a NUS-Overseas Graduate Scholarship with a 5 years contract with NUS to teach after the completion of PhD. Honestly I wouldn't really mind that. Of course I would prefer funding directly from the university in US.

Disgusting as this may be, I am considering writing to HSBC or Bayer to ask for funding for my research. Argh.

Here's something interest: the Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture! They have a list of grants. There is also an Asian Association of Agricultural Colleges and Universities which provides a link for schools in Indo and M'sia which I can find help for my research!

Toyota Foundation

Have been on the search for funding for my research and field work. While prowling for southeast asian funds, I came across the Toyota Foundation's Southeast Asian Studies Regional Exchange Program (SEASREP).

It seems like the most likely one at the moment as it allows "enrolled graduate students to carry out library or field research on a Southeast Asian country other than their own or on a comparative topic involving two or more Southeast Asian countries."

That sounds very much like my own research. Deadline for applications is on 1 October 2007. Despite the early date, the money will only come next year!

SEASREP also has its own website which includes a very comprehensive FAQ. I think I should get in touch with the people at SEASREP to ask them which grant I should apply for.

IMPORTANT DATES
1 October 2007: Deadline of Applications
January 2008: Selection of grantees
March 2008: Approval of grant funds for 2008-2009
Late March 2008: Announcement of grantees for 2008-2009
Early April to May 2008: Release of grant funds

I better work on my proposal soon and get it out before September!