Adil Najam

Adil Najam (Urdu: عادل نجم‎) is a Pakistani academic and intellectual who serves as the inaugural dean of the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, and previously served as vice-chancellor of the LUMS.[1]

Adil Najam
عادل نجم
Born
Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan
NationalityPakistani
Alma materUniversity of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), U.S.
AwardsSitara-i-Imtiaz (2009)
Fletcher School Paddock Teaching Award (2004)
MIT's Goodwin Medal for Effective Teaching (1997)
Pakistan Television Outstanding Achievement Medal (1990)
Scientific career
Fieldsinternational relations, conflict resolution, and environment and development policy
InstitutionsBoston University
Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Tufts University
Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)

Born in Rawalpindi, Najam studied civil engineering at UET Lahore and received two Master's degrees and his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in international environmental policy. After graduating from MIT, Najam joined Boston University in 1997 as an assistant professor, and moved to the Fletcher School in 2002 where he worked until 2007 as an associate professor of negotiation and diplomacy. He re-joined Boston University in 2007 as a tenured professor and the Director of the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future.[2]

In 2011, Najam returned to Pakistan to head the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) as its third vice-chancellor. During his tenure at LUMS, he oversaw the launch of a major student financial aid program and brought in major philanthropic gifts to enable an expansion of the university.[3][4] However, he faced criticism for not intervening over the controversial termination of Pervez Hoodbhoy by the University's School of Science and Engineering.[5] Najam left LUMS in June 2013,[6] and returned to Boston University. A year later he was appointed the inaugural dean of Pardee School and continues till date.[7][8][9][10]

Najam is a prominent member of the Pakistani intelligentsia.[11] He was awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz in 2008 by the President of Pakistan, and in February 2009, he was appointed to the Committee for Development Policy by the United Nations Secretary General.[12][13] He is a senior fellow of the International Institute for Sustainable Development. He has also served as the Chair of the Boards of the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE), of LEAD-Pakistan, and of the Luc Hoffmann Institute.[14][15][16] He also serves as a Trustee on the International Board of the World Wide Fund for Nature and on the Board of The Asia Foundation.[17][18] Adil Najam was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by the Information Technology University (ITU) in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2017, for his contributions in science, climate change and sustainable development.[19]

Publications

Scholarly Work

Najam has published widely in scholarly journals and is the author of over 100 scholarly papers and book chapters.

He was amongst the early scholars working on impacts of and adaptation to climate change in developing countries. As a public intellectual, he has popularized the idea of living in the "Age of Adaptation" and conceptualizing water as being as important to climate adaptation as carbon was to mitigation.[20]

Adil Najam was the lead author for the 2018 Pakistan National Human Development Report, which focused on the topic of youth and included a first comprehensive district-by-district ranking in a national Human Development Index for Pakistan. The report and the district HDI index became a matter of much election campaign discussion during the 2018 Pakistani general election.

Bibliography

His recent books include How Immigrants Impact their Homelands (co-editor, 2013), "The Future of South-South Economic Relations" (co-editor, 2012), "Envisioning a Sustainable Development Agenda for Trade and Environment" (co-editor, 2007), "Portrait of a Giving Community" (2007), "Environment, Development and Human Security" (editor, 2003), "Civic Entrepreneurship" (co-author, 2002), amongst others. He serves on the editorial boards of several scholarly academic journals, including Global Governance, Ecological Economics, and Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.

Najam served as a lead author for the third and fourth assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for its contributions to advancing the understanding of global climate change.[21]

Media

Early in his career Najam worked as a journalist (sports reporter and columnist) for various newspapers and magazines in Pakistan. He has been a frequent opinion contributor to major newspapers in Pakistan and in the international press.[22][23][24][25][26] During the late 1980s and 1990s he also hosted various talk shows such as "Mehman-e-Khasoosi" on Pakistan Television (PTV). He was awarded the Pakistan Television Outstanding Achievement Award in 1990. In 2007 Najam launched the blog "All Things Pakistan (Pakistaniat)" which won the Brass Crescent Award for the best South Asian blog in 2010 and was judged the best current affairs blog by the Pakistan Blog Awards 2010.[27]

Quotes
  • "Water is to climate adaptation what carbon was to climate change mitigation."
  • "We are now living in the 'Age of Adaptation.' Climate change is no longer just a challenge of tomorrow that needs to be averted. For too many people, it is now a reality of today that has to be managed."
  • "Global governance is the management of global processes in the absence of global government."
  • "The Youth of Pakistan are not a problem to be solved, they are a resources to be nurtured."

References
  1. "Profile Adil Najam". Boston University site. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  2. "Dr. Adil Najam appointed as the third VC of LUMS". LUMS Official site. 23 June 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  3. "Outgoing VC of LUMS: A job well done – The Express Tribune". 1 June 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  4. "LUMS to diversify, introduce new discipline – The Express Tribune". 11 April 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  5. "The Pervez Hoodbhoy-LUMS dispute – The Express Tribune". 30 October 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  6. Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (26 May 2013). "LUMS VC to step down on June 30". Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  7. "Adil Najam – Agenda Contributor | World Economic Forum". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  8. Omar Sacirbey (18 February 2008). "Adil Najam puts things on global perspective". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 21 May 2008.
  9. "Faculty Profile for Prof. Adil Najam". The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008. Retrieved 2 June 2008.
  10. "Adil Najam Named Dean of Pardee School of Global Studies". BUToday site. 4 April 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  11. "Adil Najam: Profile, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University". Boston University. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  12. "ECOSOC appoints Mr. Adil Najam as a new member of the Committee, 10 February 2009" (PDF).
  13. LEAD-Pakistan (20 January 2012). "Adil Najam Elected Chairman of Board of LEAD Pakistan". Archived from the original on 6 August 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2012.
  14. "Najam Elected Chair of South Asian Network of Environmental Economists". 14 December 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  15. "Dr. Ishrat Husain to Follow Dr. Adil Najam as Chairman BOG, LEAD-Pakistan". 4 May 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  16. "Adil Najam, Chair of the LHI Advisory Board". Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  17. WWF (24 January 2012). "Adil Najam joins the WWF International Board of Trustees". World Wide Fund for Nature. Retrieved 28 January 2012.
  18. "Adil Najam, Trustee of The Asia Foundation".
  19. Pakistan Today (17 December 2017). "ITU's First Convocation". Pakistan Today. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  20. IIASA (August 2017). "Living in the Age of Adaptation". IIASA Options.
  21. IPCC. "IPCC – Climate Change 2007". IPCC. Archived from the original on 17 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  22. Adil Najam (8 June 2007). "Climate change conversion". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
  23. Get rid of all nuclear arms Archived 9 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine (18 February 2004)
  24. Adil Najam. "António Guterres to be the next UN Secretary-General: Good choice, bad process". The Conversation.
  25. NPR. "Pakistan's Role in Afghanistan Examined". NPR. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  26. Adil Najam. "I've seen 21 years of COP failures. Paris needs to deliver action, not talk". The Guardian.
  27. "All Things Pakistan". 28 June 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
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