I am an interdisciplinary researcher in sustainable development, conservation and environmental management issues with a specialisation in ecological economics and citizen and stakeholder deliberation. I am Director of Ecologos Research Ltd (an independent research and consultancy social enterprise), I work as a part-time Professorial Research Fellow in Deliberative Ecological Economics at Aberystwyth Business School (Wales), and I am Honorary Fellow at the University of York, Department of Environment and Geography. I am also a Registered One Spirit Interfaith Minister and work as a psychospiritual counsellor.
My main research interest is in people’s values around nature. I enjoy taken a broad view of the notion of value and values, looking through the lenses of economics, ecology, ethics, psychology and spiritual practice, and have a particular interest in how social processes shape values and in ways we can integrate economic and deliberative methodologies to better incorporate shared values of nature into decision-making. I also work more broadly on new economics approaches that focus on holistic wellbeing for people and planet, including as lead for the Global Assessment for a New Economics.
I have previously worked at the University of York, Environment Department as Reader in Deliberative Ecological Economics, where I was programme leader for the MSc in Environmental Economics and Environmental Management. I was also a Principal Investigator at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) where I lead the Laurence Mee Centre for Society and the Sea, and have lectured at the Universities of Edinburgh, St Andrews, Leicester and Aberdeen.
I have authored over 50 peer reviewed publications with more than 5500 citations (also see Google Scholar Profile). My work has received funding from European, UK, Norwegian and Finnish research councils. I was a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) focusing on the conceptualisation of multiple values, and a principal investigator for the second phase of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment, leading work on shared, plural and cultural values of ecosystems. I have also served as board member of the International Society for Ecological Economics and the European Society for Ecological Economics. I am an Editor of the journal Sustainability Science and was previously Associate Editor of the journal Ecosystem Services. For my cross-disciplinary research in the Solomon Islands (South Pacific) on environmental values, I have received prizes from the European Society for Ecological Economics, the Society for Conservation Biology, and the Geographical Field Group. My consulting work delivering a public public dialogue on the Firth of Clyde marine plan (in association with Collinwood Environmental Consultancy) was nominated for two awards by the Royal Town Planning Institute.
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