Biography
Professor Michael Redclift is an Emeritus Professor of International Environmental Policy in the Department of Geography.
In 2006, he was the first recipient of the ‘Frederick Buttel Award’, from the International Sociological Association, for “an outstanding contribution to international scholarship in environmental sociology.”
His research on the production and consumption relations under the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) / Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Programme ‘Cultures of consumption’ was published in 2004 by Taylor and Francis in New York as 'Chewing Gum: the fortunes of taste'. He completed (2006) a major comparative study of frontier societies and their relations with the natural environment for MIT Press: Frontiers: histories of civil societies and nature.
Michael was the first Director of the Global Environmental Change programme of the ESRC between 1990 and 1995. Between 1973 and 1997, he was at Imperial College at Wye, ultimately as Professor of Environmental Sociology. He has coordinated research grants for the European Commission (FM IV and V) and helped initiate the TERM programme of the European Science Foundation. In addition he has evaluated the research programmes of the Norwegian Research Council (RCN), the Netherlands Research Council (NRP), and other European research initiatives, including the Tyndall Centre in the UK.
Research
- Sustainable development, especially in developing countries
- Global environmental policy
- Environmental security
- Tourism and the environment
Michael’s research interests include sustainable development, global environmental change, environmental security and the modern food system. He has undertaken research in Spain, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico and the United Kingdom.