Carl Folke

Carl Folke, born in 1955, serves as the Director of the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and was the founding Science Director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre (2007-2023). His groundbreaking research has transformed our understanding of the dynamic relationships between humans and nature, economy and ecology. After completing his Ph.D. in 1990 on ecosystem roles in development, he has spent over three decades advancing interdisciplinary sustainability science. His work emphasizes how humans are embedded within and dependent on the biosphere while simultaneously shaping it from local to global scales. As a systems thinker, he has produced over 300 scientific publications, including 16 papers in Science and Nature, and has been consistently recognized as one of the world's most cited researchers. His contributions have earned him prestigious honors including the Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences (2022), the Gunnerus Award in Sustainability Science (2017), and election to both the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Through the Stockholm Resilience Centre and various international collaborations, he continues to advance understanding of resilience, social-ecological systems, and biosphere stewardship while training new generations of sustainability scientists.