Lawrence Susskind is Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning at MIT where he has been a member of the faculty for 45 years and heads the MIT Science Impact Collaborative. He is Vice Chair for Instruction at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, an inter-university consortium devoted to improving the theory and practice of dispute resolution.

Professor Susskind is founder and Chief Knowledge Officer of the Consensus Building Institute, a not-for-profit organization that provides mediation services in complex resource management disputes around the world. Professor Susskind has mediated more than 50 complex disputes involving issues of affordable housing, public transportation, energy facility siting, the land rights of indigenous peoples and the remediation of contaminated areas.

He is the author or co-author of 20 books including (with Shafiqul Islam) Water Diplomacy: A Negotiated Approach to Managing Complex Water Networks (Resources for the Future, 2012) and Managing Climate Risks in Coastal Communities: Strategies for Engagement, Readiness and Adaptation (Anthem, 2015).

Susskind is currently leading the MIT Professional Education Digital Program, “Entrepreneurial Negotiations: The MIT Way.”