Who's Who

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Management team at the Grantham Research Institute

Chair of the Institute

Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government. Professor Stern is the first holder of the IG Patel Chair and also directs the Asia Research Centre and the India Observatory. He was Chief Economist of the World Bank (2000-2003), then Head of the UK Government Economic Service and led a Review of the Economics of Climate Change which was published in October 2006.

Contact details: email| (via Personal Assistant: k.quirk@lse.ac.uk| ). Tel: +44 (0) 20 7955 7871

Institute Director

Professor Judith Rees is Professor of Environmental and Resources Management in the Department of Geography and Environment. She was a Deputy Director of the LSE from 1998-2004. She has acted as an advisor to the World Bank on water privatisation, regulation and pricing and to a number of national governments on institutional design and regulatory regimes. She has been on the Technical Advisory Committee of the Global Water Partnership since 1996 and is currently a member of the UN Secretary General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation. Since August 2004 she has been a member of the central Council of the ESRC.

Her key research interests focus on the governance of environmental resources and risk, including institutional design, public-private partnerships regulation and use of market mechanisms, with specific interest in the water sector.

More information: Staff Page| , LSE Experts|
Contact details: 020 7955 6228, email|

Deputy Institute Director

Dr Simon Dietz is lecturer in the Department of Geography and Environment. He joined the LSE in 2006. Previously he worked at the UK Treasury, as an economic adviser on the 'Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change'. Simon holds a starred first class honours degree in Environmental Science from the University of East Anglia, and Masters and PhD degrees from the LSE, specialising in environmental policy and economics.

Much of his current research focuses on the economics of climate change, and he has recently authored a number of papers on the question of whether economic analysis can support strong action on climate change.

More information: Staff page ; LSE Experts
Contact details: + 44 (0) 20 7955 7589, email|

Policy and Communications Director

Bob Ward joined the Grantham Research Institute in November 2008 from Risk Management Solutions, where he was Director of Public Policy. He worked at the Royal Society, the UK national academy of science, for eight years until October 2006, where his responsibilities included leading the media relations team. He has also worked as a freelance science writer and journalist.

Bob has a first degree in geology and an unfinished PhD thesis on palaeopiezometry. He is a member of the executive committees of the Association of British Science Writers and the World Conference of Science Journalists 2009, and is a member of the board of the UK's Science Media Centre.

Contact details: Room F5.20 New Academic Building
Tel:  020 7106 1236   Fax: 020n 7106 1241  email|

Institute Manager, and Centre Manager, ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy

Ginny Pavey joined the Grantham Research Institute in October 2008 having previously been the Research Support Manager in the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at Kingston University.  Prior to working in Higher Education she originally  trained as a Stage Manager at the Central School of Speech and Drama and has worked at a number of theatres across the country.

Contact details: Room F5.12, New Academic Building
Tel: 020 7106 1221  Fax: 020 7106 1241   Email - v.pavey@lse.ac.uk|

Centre Manager of the Centre for the Analysis of Time Series (CATS)

Lyn Grove is Centre Manager of the Centre for the Analysis of Time Series (CATS)|, and is also responsible for the administration of the Munich Re programme of the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy. She also spends one day a week with the Research and Projects Development Division doing project work. Lyn has been at the LSE for some years as both a departmental and centre manager.

Contact Details:  Room F5.12, New Academic Building.  
Tel: 020 7955 6015     Fax: 020 7106 1241  Email|

Other staff

Alex Bowen has recently joined the Grantham Research Centre as a Principal Research Fellow. Having previously worked at the Bank of England, most recently as a Senior Policy Adviser, he is particularly interested in the macroeconomic aspects of climate change and the design of policy regimes for tackling harmful climate change.

This interest was stimulated by his year on sabbatical contributing to the Stern Review on the economics of climate change as senior economic adviser. Alex graduated in economics from Clare College, Cambridge, and received a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied as a Kennedy Scholar.

Contact details: Tel:  020 7106 1224      Email|

Dr Sam Fankhauser is a Principal Research Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics He is also a member of the UK Committee on Climate Change, a government watchdog that monitors UK climate change policy.

A former Deputy Chief Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Sam served on the 1995, 2001 and 2007 assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He studied economics at the University of Berne and the London School of Economics, and holds a PhD from University College London.

Contact details: Email|   Tel: 020 7106 1220

Dr David Stainforth is a Senior Research Fellow in the Grantham Research Institute. He is a physicist by training and has many years experience of climate modelling. While a researcher at Oxford University he co-founded and was chief scientist of the climateprediction.net project, the world's largest climate modelling experiment.

He has been both a NERC Research Fellow and a Tyndall Research Fellow at Oxford University. His current research interests focus on how we can extract robust and useful information about future climate, and climate related phenomena, from modelling experiments. This includes issues of how to design climate modelling experiments and how to link climate science to real-world decision making in such a way as to be of value to industry, policy makers and wider society.

Contact details: Tel: 020 7106 1227.  Email|

Academic Associates of the Institute

Dr Giles Atkinson is Senior Lecturer in Environmental Policy in the Department of Geography and Environment and a Deputy Director of the Centre for Environmental Policy and Governance (CEPG).

An environmental economist by training, his research interests cover the measurement of sustainable development particularly through green national accounting, environmental cost-benefit analysis and environmental equity. Giles is a member of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Environmental Economics Academic Panel and a member of the Advisory Board of the Green Indian States Trust (GIST).

More information: Staff Page| ; LSE Experts|
Contact details: Room S513, g.atkinson@lse.ac.uk|

Professor Robin Burgess is Professor of Economics and Co-Director of the Programme for the Study of Economic Organisation and Public Policy| in STICERD|. His other roles include: Director, Development Economics Program, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Senior Fellow, Bureau for Research in Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD); Fellow, European Development Research Network (EUDN); Member, Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD); Associate Editor, Economic Journal (EJ); and Co-organiser, LSE/UCL Development and Growth Seminar Series.

His research interests are in: Development Economics, Public Economics, Political Economy, Labor Economics, Environmental Economics.

Contact details: Room R524, Department of Economics and STICERD. Homepage|
E-mail: r.burgess@lse.ac.uk; Tel: (0)20-7955-6676; Fax: (0)20-7955-6951.
PA: Leila Alberici, Tel: (0)20-7955-6674, E-mail: l.alberici@lse.ac.uk|

Professor Lenny Smith, Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Time Series (CATS)|, is Professor in Statistics at LSE and Senior Research Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford. He obtained a PhD in Physics at Columbia University (USA) in 1987. He has held grants funded by many bodies including ONR (US Office of Naval Research) and NOAA (US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) as well as the European Commission and UK Research Councils.

Two successful projects - DIME| and REMIND| - were funded under the UK EPSRC Maths Faraday programme, and a current project NAPSTER (Nonlinear Analysis and Prediction Statistics from Time Series and Ensemble forecast Realizations) is a UK NERC Knowledge Transfer grant. Professor Smith was active in the formation of strategy for THORPEX (he was co-author of the Socio-Economic Impacts Chapter). In recognition of his mathematically-coherent user-relevant contributions, the Royal Meteorological Society awarded Professor Smith its Fitzroy Prize.

Contact details: Email|  Homepage|   LSE Experts| Tel: 020 7955 7626

Dr Robert Falkner is Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Deputy Director of the Centre for Environmental Policy and Governance at the LSE, and associate fellow of the Energy, Environment and Development Programme at Chatham House.

His research interests are in international political economy, with special emphasis on global environmental politics (esp. climate change, biosafety and nanotechnology), multinational corporations, risk regulation and global governance. He is the author of Business Power and Conflict in International Environmental Politics (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).

More information: LSE Experts| ; Personal Page|
Contact details: 020 7955 6347, r.falkner@lse.ac.uk|

Dr Michael Mason is Deputy Director of the Centre for Environmental Policy and Governance and Director of the LSE/Alcoa Foundation Conservation and Sustainability Programme (based at CEPG). His research interests centre on environmental politics and governance, particularly at the global scale.

Dr Mason also coordinates LSE research input into the Energy, Water and Environment Community project - an international, interdisciplinary network addressing environmental cooperation in the Middle East.

More information: Staff Page| , LSE Experts|
Contact details: 020 7955 6175, m.mason@lse.ac.uk|

Professor Eric Neumayer joined the Department of Geography and Environment in 1998. Before he was an academic assistant at the Centre for Law and Economics at the University of Saarbrücken, Germany. An economist by training, he is the co-editor of Handbook of Sustainable Development (with Giles Atkinson and Simon Dietz. Edward Elgar, 2007), the author of Weak versus Strong Sustainability: Exploring the Limits of Two Opposing Paradigms (Edward Elgar, 1999-- Revised Edition 2003), Greening Trade and Investment: Environmental Protection Without Protectionism (Earthscan, 2001) and The Pattern of Aid Giving - The Impact of Good Governance on Development Assistance (Routledge 2003), as well as numerous journal articles. His teaching focuses on neoclassical environmental and ecological economics. Research interests: General interest: Evidence-based public policy-making; Economic and human development; Conflict and violence; Globalisation; Migration; Sustainable development; Environmental commitment and performance; Quantitative methods.

More information: Staff Page| , Personal Website| , LSE Experts|
Contact details: 020 7955 7598, e.neumayer@lse.ac.uk|

Dr Richard Perkins is Lecturer in Environmental Geography in the Department of Geography and Environment. His research interests focus on three keys areas: (a) the cross-border transfer and diffusion of environmentally-superior innovations and performances; (b) the emerging dynamics of corporate environmentalism, with a particular focus on industrialising countries; and (c) the implementation of environmental policy innovations.

More information: Staff Page|
Contact details: 020 7955 7605, r.m.perkins@lse.ac.uk|

Professor John Van Reenen is Centre Director - Productivity and Innovation of the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP)|.  His research expertise is in: Innovation, productivity, Industrial organisation, labour economics, public policy, competition policy. Homepage|

Contact details: Tel: 020 7955 6976 
Email: j.vanreenen@lse.ac.uk|

Professor David Webb is Professor of Finance and director of the Financial Markets Group (FMG) at LSE. His research interests include: Financial economics; Monetary theory, specifically analysis of bankruptcy and financial contracts; Economics of Information, Corporate Finance and Financial Markets.

Further information: Webpage|. Contact details: Tel: +44 (0)20 7955 7275  Email|

Dr Diana Weinhold - Development Studies Institute (DESTIN).
Diana Weinhold is an applied econometrician with diverse research interests in econometrics, growth and development, trade, and environmental economics.

She completed her PhD at UC-San Diego under the supervision of Clive Granger and Jim Rauch. Since 1994 she has been involved in a joint empirical research effort to study the economics of land use in the Brazilian Amazon. Her current focus in this context is a study of the socio-economic and land-use implications of the exponential growth of soy bean production in the Amazon.

More information: Staff page| ; LSE Experts|
Contact details: 020 7955 6331, d.weinhold@lse.ac.uk|