Prof Michael Christie BSc (Hons), PhD. Aberdeen.

I am a Professor of Environmental and Ecological Economics in Aberystywth University's Business School.

Previous appointments include

• 1996 - 2012: Lecturer in Environmental Economics (Aberystwyth University's Institute of Rural Studies (now IBERS)).
• 2012 - present:  Professorship of Environmental and Ecological Economics (Aberystywth Business School).

Current Responsibilities

• Director of Research, Aberystywth Business School.
• Member of Aberystywth University Research Committee.
• Director of Centre for Responsible Societies (CRiSis)
• Programme Director for the Brickfields Asia College Franchise schemes with Aberystwyth University.
• Member of the Aberystwyth University Collaborative Provision Board.

Previous Responsibilities

• Head of Aberystwyth Business School (2015 - 2018)
• Institute of Business and Law Director of research (2013 - 2018)
• Director of Learning and Teaching, Aberystywth Business School (2012 - 2013)

My research specialises in the economic and social valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. I have utilised a wide range of non-market valuation methods including choice experiments, contingent valuation, contingent behaviour and travel cost method. These studies have addressed a wide range of natural resource and environmental issues including, both marine and terrestrial ecosystems, water quality, biodiversity, agri-environmental schemes, recreation and tourism. Increasingly, I am focusing my research to examine the human welfare impacts of biodiversity loss in developing countries, with recent studies in Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Solomon Islands and the Caribbean.

I also was a lead author of TEEB (2010), the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (2011) and the IPBES European and Central Asia assessment (2018) report, and was co-chair of the IPBES ‘Values’ assessment.  

Recent projects have been funded by 4 of the UK Research Councils and have included:

• NERC / ESRC - NAVIGATE: Understanding NAture’s multiple Values for InteGrATion into dEcisions
• NERC’s BESS - Diversity of Upland Rivers for Ecosystem Services and Sustainability (DURESS),
• NERC / ESRC VNN - Bridging the gap from Values to Decisions (BRIDGE),  
• NERC / ESRC ESPA - Can capturing global ecosystem services reduce poverty (P4GES),
• AHRC - Re-valuing pollinators through arts and science collaboration(Cross-pollination),
• BBSRC - Impact and Value for money of BBSRC research institutes and campuses,
• Global Innovation Initiative - Global innovation for sustainable forest management in Indonesia

In addition to the above, I have had a wide range of more applied research projects founded by UK and International governments, agencies and NGOs.