Q&A with Nobel Laureate Dr. Elinor Ostrom Finding the key to sustaining shared resources Elinor Ostrom is a research professor at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and is founding director of the Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity.

In 2009, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for her work in economic governance, particularly as it applies to shared resources such as pastures, fisheries, and groundwater basins. Her research examines ways that institutions and users operating at widely different scales can work together to sustain such resources.

In the video interview, Dr. Ostrom is questioned by Arnim Wiek, assistant professor in the School of Sustainability, about her views on three topics: the relevance of local choices to global sustainability issues, ways to link policy and science, and how to develop a sustainability science community across multiple disciplines.

The interview was screened during the introductory plenary session of the International Conference on Sustainability Science 2010 held in Rome, June 23-25 and prompted numerous discussions throughout the conference.