Paul Arthur Berkman

By — on / Affiliated Faculty, PON Faculty

Faculty Associate, Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School (Associate Director of Science Diplomacy, Harvard-MIT Public Disputes Program)

Fulbright Arctic Chair 2021-2022, United States Department of State and Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Professor of Practice in Science Diplomacy, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy Tufts University

Director, Science Diplomacy Center, Tufts University

Paul Arthur Berkman is science diplomat, polar explorer and global thought leader applying international, interdisciplinary and inclusive processes with informed decisionmaking to balance national interests and common interests for the benefit of all on Earth across generations.  Paul wintered in Antarctica when he was twenty-two, SCUBA diving throughout the year under the ice, and then taught a course on science into policy as a Visiting Professor at the University of California Los Angeles the following year, visiting all seven continents before the age of thirty.

He co-convened and chaired the Antarctic Treaty Summit in Washington, DC, producing the first book on Science Diplomacy as well as a Congressional Resolution adopted with unanimous consent by the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate.  Among other events, he co-convened and chaired the first dialogue between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Russia regarding security in the Arctic.  Prof. Berkman has been honored with awards in the United States, United Kingdom, Russian Federation, Norway, New Zealand and Japan.  He now trains science diplomacy with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research as well as with national diplomatic academies.

Education

B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara

M.S., University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography

Ph.D., University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography

Research interests

Informed decisionmaking; common-interest building; interdisciplinary education; Earth system science; sustainable development

Selected publications

  • Science Diplomacy and it Engine of Informed Decisionmaking: Operating Through Our Global Pandemic with Humanity. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 15:435-450 (2020).
  • ‘The Pandemic Lens’: Focusing Across Time Scales for Local-Global Sustainability. Patterns 1(8):1-4 (2020).
  • Informed Decisionmaking for Sustainability. Volume 1. Governing Arctic Seas: Regional Lessons from the Bering Strait and Barents Sea. Springer (2020).
  • Baseline of Russian Arctic Laws. Springer (2019).
  • The Arctic Science Agreement Propels Science Diplomacy. Science 358:596-598 (2017).
  • Science into Policy: Global Lessons from Antarctica. Academic Press (2002).

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