Kant, S.

Biography

 1. Academic Qualifications: 1996 Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 1995 Master of Arts (Economics) Department of Economics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Note: Dual Degree pursued at the same time Master in Department of Economics and Ph. D. in Faculty of Forestry) 1992 Diploma in Management AIMA, New Delhi, India 1986 Post Graduate Diploma in Remote Sensing Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, India. 1982 Post Graduate Diploma in Forest Science State Forest Service College, Coimbatore, India. 1978 Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) Electronics Engineering Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India 2. Academic Work Experience: 2008 - Professor, Forest Resource Economics and Management, Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada 2002-2008 Associate Professor, Forest Resource Economics and Management, Faculty of 2 Forestry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada 1997-2002 Assistant Professor, Forest Resource Economics and Management, Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, Canada 1988-1992 Assistant Professor, Forest Resource Economics, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, India 2.1 Academic Positions in Other Universities 2011- Honorary Professor, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, P.R. China 2011 - 14 Visiting Professor, Zhejinag Agriculture and Forestry University, Lin’an, Zhejiang, P.R. China 3.0 Academic Administrative Experience: 2012 - Director, Master of Science in Sustainability Management (MScSM) Program, Institute for Management and Innovation, University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM), Canada Responsibilities and Key Achievements: (i) Program design and governance approval, course development and governance approval, identifying and convincing instructors for all required (10) and elective (2) courses, budget formulation and control; (ii) Coordinating with the Chair, Department of Management and Department of Geography – program delivery as well as hiring three tenure-track Assistant Professors, and hiring two staff members for the program; (iii) Established International Exchange Programs with the University of Geneva, Lund University, and Utrecht University; (iv) Established Collaborative Program with the School of Environment, University of Toronto, for a Joint Degree – MScSM and Master in Environmental Studies; (v) Established four Combined Degree Programs with the Department of Geography – MScSM combined with HBSc Environmental Science (Specialist and Major) and HBSc Environmental Management (Specialist and Major) (vi) Designed and implemented a highly successful student’s recruitment program – initial target was 14 students per year for the first two years but we received about 150 applications in the first year as well as in second year. We have 27 and 28 students respectively in our first and second 3 cohorts; (vii) Designed and launched a very aggressive Internship and External Relations program – as a result, in the first year all 27 students were successfully placed for their internship and we are sure that all 28 students will be placed in the second year. This program has some outstanding achievements such as development of a network of about 300 sustainability related organizations and creation of totally new internship positions for MScSM students by 15 organizations in summer 2015. The distribution of 27 organizations that offered internship in 2015 was - Large Corporate – 5, Consulting – 5, Public sector – 4, Private – Small to Medium: - 4, Private Start Up -3, Private International - 3, NonProfit – 3. (viii) Launched a Sustainability Leader’s Speaker Series. Mr. David Miller, CEO, WWF and Ex-Mayor of Toronto was our first speaker of the series who delivered the lecture in Oct 2015. Senior managers from about 70 organizations registered and participated in this event in addition to our students, faculty members, and staff. (ix) Launched number of other activities such as Sustainability Speaker Series, Sustainability Career Day, Career Panel, Orientation Day, Consulting Day, and Campus Visits of Professionals. For 2014-15, the details of professional’s participation in different activities are – visit to campus - 51, Sustainability Careers Day – 18, Speaker Series Speakers – 18, Speakers at Orientation Day – 4, Speakers on the Career Panel – 4, and Speakers on Consulting Day – 4. (x) Developing a program to organize a Joint Sustainability Day with Rotman School of Management in Fall 2016. 2005-10 Graduate Coordinator, Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto Responsibilities included administration of three graduate programs – Master of Science in Forestry, Ph.D. in Forestry, and a professional program – Master of Forest Conservation; common duties - setting standards for admission, courses, scholarships, thesis examinations, academic disputes and grievances; organizing recruitment and admission process, scheduling and delivery of courses, organization of departmental and SGS thesis examinations; and coordinating with SGS on all graduate matters. 2001-03 Undergraduate Coordinator, Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto Responsibilities included administration of three natural science and three social science undergraduate programs offered by the Faculty of Forestry in collaboration with the Faculty of Arts and Science; common duties – design of the programs and governance approval in the Faculty of Forestry and the Faculty of 4 Arts and Science, setting standards for admission, courses, academic disputes and grievances; organizing recruitment and admission process, scheduling and delivery of courses, and coordinating with Faculty of Arts and Science on all undergraduate matters. I was the Director in the initial years of the program, and therefore almost all things were done from scratch. 1990-91 Director, Social Forestry Centre, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, India Responsibilities included to raise funds for social forestry research at the centre, coordinate the research activities of about 30 professors and other researchers involved in research activities, to supervise the support staff, and to report the progress to the Board of Governors. 1990-91 Director, Placement, Post Graduate Program in Forest Management, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, India The main responsibility was to direct the student’s job placement activities. The placement visits of about 70 organizations were organized. The class had 28 students, and on an average, every student received two job offers. 1988-89 Director, Organizational Training, Post Graduate Program in Forest Management, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, India The main responsibility was to direct the activities related to organizational training (OT) of graduate students in the program. There were 27 students in the program and there were two organization trainings – each for 8 weeks. It was the first year of the program and so an aggressive program for OT was designed, organized, and managed. About 100 organizations were contacted and attracted to participate in the activities. All students were placed successfully for both OTs. On an average, 1.5 OT per student were offered. 1988-89 Academic Director, Post Graduate Program in Forest Management, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, India This position included all academic responsibilities similar to a Graduate Program Director at the University of Toronto.

Research Interest

 Prof. Shashi Kant specializes in forest resource economics and forest management systems with an emphasis on economics of sustainable forest management. His research has challenged traditional models of forest economics by introducing a new paradigm of economics that incorporates the basic features of sustainability specifically sustainable forest management. His research interests include economics of community-based forest management systems, valuation of ecosystem services including social, cultural, and land use activities of First Nations peoples, behavioral economics specifically other regarding preferences of First Nations peoples and peoples involved in co-management, non-market signals of resource scarcity, game theoretical models of co-management, international trade of forest products, timber pricing, forest tenure, institutional economics, and social choice theory and forest management. Kant is editor-in-chief of a book series, Sustainability, Economics and Natural Resources, which aims to integrate the concept of sustainability into forest economics as well as reflect the multi- and interdisciplinary nature of economics. He has co-edited Handbook of Forest Resource Economics. He is Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research and Journal of Forest Economics. He is a member of the selection committee for the Soren Wibe Prize in Forest Economics. He is the Coordinator of IUFRO Research Group on Forest Economics. He is the leader of New Frontiers of Forest Economics (NEFFE) group – an international think tank.