Who we are
Tara Garnett | Tim Jackson | Emily Lewis-Brown | John Jackson
Tim is Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Surrey and Director of RESOLVE - the ESRC Research group on Lifestyles, Values and Environment. His principal role in FCRN is to sign forms and be there when Tara needs him. It’s harder than it sounds.
At the time of his appointment in April 2000, Tim was the first and only Professor of Sustainable Development in the UK. For over two decades, he has been at the forefront of international work on sustainable consumption and production. During five years 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 . For the last decade his research has focused on consumption, lifestyle and sustainability. In 2005, the Sustainable Development Research Network published his widely-cited review Motivating Sustainable Consumption. An Earthscan ‘Reader’ in Sustainable Consumption was published in 2006.
During the 1990s Tim developed a form of ‘green GDP’ (the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare) for the UK and has written extensively on the relationship between wellbeing, economic growth and sustainability. Since 2004 he has been Economics Commissioner on the UK Sustainable Development Commission. From 2004-6 he was the sole academic representative on the Round Table on Sustainable Consumption and co-authored their acclaimed 2006 report I will if you will. During 2007-8 he led the SDC's Redefining Prosperity project, which mad endeavour culminated in 2009 in the publication of his controversial book Prosperity without Growth. For more information see here.
Tim has a 1st class degree in mathematics from Cambridge, a Masters degree in philosophy from the University of Western Ontario and a PhD in the foundations of quantum physics from St Andrews.
When not drowning in academic work, Tim is an award-winning dramatist with numerous BBC radio credits to his name. His most recent play Variations won the 2007 Grand Prix Marulic and was longlisted for the 2008 Sony awards.