Tim Jackson

Tim Jackson is Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Surrey and Director of SLRG. He was also Director of the ESRC Research Group on Lifestyles, Values and Environment (RESOLVE).

Tim joined the University of Surrey in 1995 under a Royal Academy of Engineering fellowship on the thermodynamics of clean technology, after five years as Senior Researcher at the Stockholm Environment Institute. In April 2000, he was appointed as Professor of Sustainable Development at Surrey, the first such chair to be created in the UK. Between January 2003 and April 2005, Tim held a research fellowship on the social psychology of sustainable consumption, supported by the ESRC's Sustainable Technologies Programme. His monograph Motivating Sustainable Consumption (2005) drawing on research from that period is still widely cited in both academic and policy circles and was influential in framing the Changing Behaviours chapter in the 2005 UK Sustainable Development Strategy.

During his time at the Stockholm Environment Institute, he pioneered the concept of preventative environmental management outlined in his 1996 book Material Concerns – pollution profit and quality of life. In 1996 he co-authored (with Nic Marks) the first Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare for the UK and has continued to work closely with the New Economics Foundation and others on measures of sustainable wellbeing at national and regional level.

Over the last decade, he has led numerous research and policy initiatives on sustainable consumption and production in the UK and abroad. From June 2004 to March 2006, he was the sole academic representative on the UK Sustainable Consumption Round Table and co-authored their influential report I will if you will. In 2006 Tim published the Earthscan Reader on Sustainable Consumption. He led the team which developed the Surrey Environmental Lifestyle Mapping (SELMA) model used to estimate the UK's 'carbon footprint' for the Carbon Trust. He is a co-author of the WorldWatch Institute's influential State of the World 2008 on sustainable economies. From 2006 to 2009, he led the SDC’s Redefining Prosperity programme and authored the controversial report, later published by Earthscan as Prosperity without Growth – economics for a finite planet. Tim's current projects include – in collaboration with Professor Peter Victor (York University, Toronto) - the development of the Green Economy Macro-Model and Accounts (GEMMA).

Advisor

Tim Jackson has served in an advisory capacity for numerous Government departments and delivery agencies. He has provided research, consultancy and advice to a variety of international organisations and agencies including: UNEP (on sustainable consumption and production and sustainable lifestyles); UN DESA on green economy; UNIDO and the ILO (on cleaner production), the European Environment Agency (on sustainable consumption and green GDP), the European Parliament (on sustainable consumption and on nuclear fusion), the US EPA (on waste prevention, sustainable consumption and behaviour change), the New Zealand Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (on sustainable consumption and lifestyles) .

Since 2002, Prof Jackson has been a member of the Advisory Board for the Danish ‘New Energy Solutions’ investment fund. In May 2007 he was appointed Chair of the Advisory Board.

Playwright

In addition to his scientific work, Tim is an award-winning professional playwright with numerous BBC radio writing credits to his name. His 30 episode environmental drama series Cry of the Bittern won a 1997 Public Awareness of Science (PAWS) Drama Award. The Language of Flowers – a drama documentary about the life and work of the 18th Century poet Christopher Smart won the 2004 Prix Marulic.  Tim’s most recent play, Variations, written around a Beethoven Sonata of the same name, won the 2007 Grand Prix Marulic and was long-listed for the 2008 Sony Drama awards.

Media and Speaking Engagements

Tim is an experienced writer, speaker and broadcaster. He has given more than 200 international keynote presentations and appears regularly in the UK and international media.

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