I am Professor of Environment and Society at the University of Essex. I was Head of the Department of Biological Sciences from 2004-2008. I joined the Department in 1997, having worked for ten years at the International Institute for Environment and Development, where I was director of their sustainable agriculture programme from 1989. Before that, I worked at Imperial College. At the University of Essex, I set up the Centre for Environment and Society, which links across a variety of departments and disciplines. I was appointed A D White Professor-at-Large by Cornell University for six years