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Chris Short

Associate Professor in Environmental Governance

I am fascinated by changes in our understanding and management of land and water at various scales, especially as we respond to the challenges of climate change and environmental decline.

Biography

I am Associate Professor in Environmental Governance with teaching and research interests in the relationship between different land uses, communities and policies as well as innovations that can result from local decision making.

My research for the past 25 years has mainly focused on changes in agriculture, activities that enhance the environment, how people engage with nature and developing inclusive solutions to complex issues for UK government departments and the European Commission.

I am recognised as an expert in integrated catchment management, landscape-scale management and nature-based solutions.

Qualifications

  • MPhil: Sociology, The Open University, 1996
  • HND: Rural Resource Management, Seale Hayne College, 1987.

Accreditation

  • Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers (2000)
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2001)
  • Member of the International Society for the Study of the Commons (2006).

Teaching & Research

Teaching

  • Applied ecology and conservation (NS7914)
  • Climate change (NS6302)
  • Managing valued environments (NS4212).

Research

As Associate Professor in the Countryside and Community Research Institute, I oversee a wide range of research that covers some of the greatest issues the world faces today, such as global warming, food security and biodiversity loss.

My own research looks at innovative approaches to the way we respond to issues such as environmental decline and the collaborative ways in which different communities are responding to this and the national policies developed.

Publications

More publications from Chris Short can be found in the Research Repository.

External responsibilities

  • Defra National Stakeholder Group on Common Land (Member)
  • Defra social science expert panel (Member)
  • Foundation for Common Land (NGO Charity) (Chair & Director)
  • Upper Thames Catchment Partnership (Chair) (2013-current)
  • Gloucestershire Local Nature Partnership (Board member) (2015-current).

Subject for media interview

  • Common land and village greens
  • Natural flood management
  • Ecosystem services
  • Catchment management
  • Agri-environment schemes
  • Co-design, participatory and collaborative approaches.

Professional positions

Evaluator for applications to the Ostrom Award

External examining

External Examiner at Birmingham City University for Environmental Sustainability and Environmental Planning postgraduate courses