Kyle Harper

Kyle Harper is Professor of Classics and Letters at the University of Oklahoma and Fractal Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. He currently holds the annual Sustainable Common Future Chair at the Collège de France for the 2023-2024 academic year, where he delivered his inaugural lecture Climate Change and Social Dynamics: Historical Perspectives on the Grand Challenge in February 2024 and taught courses on history, society, and climate.

Dr. Harper's research integrates natural sciences into historical scholarship, focusing on how climate change and infectious diseases have shaped human societies throughout history. His work examines humanity as agents of ecological change, exploring how historical perspectives can inform contemporary issues in biodiversity, public health, and sustainable development. He approaches these topics through the lens of complex systems theory, analyzing the interplay between environmental factors and social resilience.

His publications reveal a consistent trajectory examining the relationship between environmental factors and human history, with increasing focus on climate change and disease ecology. The works demonstrate interdisciplinary methodology combining historical analysis with insights from paleoclimatology, epidemiology, and systems theory to understand long-term historical patterns.

His notable awards include:

• Guggenheim Fellowship from John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
• Award from Carnegie Corporation of New York
• Fellowship from Dumbarton Oaks Institute

As Sustainable Common Future Chair at the Collège de France, Harper has developed teaching programs examining historical climate-society interactions from Roman times through the Little Ice Age, investigating themes of resilience, fragility, and social tipping points. His work bridges historical scholarship with contemporary environmental challenges, providing deep-time perspectives on current climate crises.