Bill Sheate
Bill recently retired as Associate Director at CEP (September 2019 - August 2021), having previously been a CEP Technical Director for 14 years (since 2005). He is also part-time Reader in Environmental Assessment at Imperial College London in the Centre for Environmental Policy, and a private therapist specialising in anxiety and stress in higher education. Originally an ecologist, Bill has worked, lectured and published widely on environmental assessment and policy for some 35 years. He has worked as a practicing ecologist, in consultancy, academia and in the voluntary sector. Most of his professional career has been spent working in interdisciplinarity. Bill holds a PhD based upon published work in accountability and EU environmental assessment law, policy and practice.
His experience lies in the development and application of environmental policy and legislation (especially Environmental Impact Assessment / Strategic Environmental Assessment / Sustainability Appraisal) in the European Union, assessment procedures, methodologies, and public and NGO participation. He has been an expert advisor to the European Commission, the European Environment Agency, various national governments, WWF, RSPB, CPRE, the National Trust and many others. Bill has also been involved in various committees of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA). He has published extensively in the assessment and environmental policy field, and is the editor of Tools, Techniques and Approaches to Sustainability: Collected Writings in Environmental Assessment Policy and Management published by World Scientific (2009). He was the founding Editor (between 1998-2009) of the Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (ICP/WSPC) and is Chair of the Environment Sub-Committee and member of Imperial College Press/World Scientific Europe Editorial Advisory Board (since 2011).
He has many years' experience of teaching and training at advanced levels. He is also a member of the Academic Panel of Francis Taylor Building barristers' chambers and an Honorary Professorial Research Fellow in the School of Environment, Education and Development at the University of Manchester. In 2014 he was appointed Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee inquiry into HS2 and the Environment. He is recognised as an international expert in advising on environmental assessment and compliance matters, e.g. for judicial review, and in April 2015 testified at the International Court of Justice.
DR CATHERINE COLLINS
After a successful career in management, Catherine (known as Tilly) Collins re-trained as an entomologist in the context of biomass fuels and her interests lie on the borders of ecology, natural resource management and environmental policy. She is an excellent communicator and facilitator who brings together skills in management, delivery and effective linkage. Tilly has twice won Rector's Awards for Excellence (teaching and pastoral) at Imperial College London and has raised the standards of statistical understanding and application amongst undergraduate and postgraduate students. At CEP she is a critical and valuable member who can oversee quantitative risk and statistical analyses and interpret complex information.
Additionally to her consultancy work, Tilly is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London where she delivers a quantitative portfolio of statistics teaching and is Senior Tutor for Women; was previously a Senior Lecturer in Entomology at Harper Adams University College, the highest ranked University College in the UK and also works for a project on controlling mosquito vectors of malaria funded by a grant from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health.
Dr Bruce Horton
Dr Bruce Horton is a CEP Associate, company director and environmental economist, with nearly fifteen years of experience in environmental policy and consulting. Since establishing his own business a few years ago, he has successfully worked on over 30 projects relating to economic and environmental analysis and policy in a number of different sectors and countries. His main areas of expertise and interest are economic advice and analysis, cost-benefit analysis (including valuation of non-market impacts) and ecosystem services.
Previously at Water UK, Dr Horton was the water industry’s lead policy adviser on a range of environmental issues, including climate change, water resources management, catchment management and sustainable development. He has also worked as an environmental economist at the Environment Agency of England. He has a PhD and MA in Environmental Economics from the University of East Anglia. He has extensive experience in public speaking, and in influencing and negotiating at a senior level.
He is a Chartered Environmentalist and member of the UK Network for Environmental Economists and European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. He has an extensive publications record, including academic journals and environment-related magazines. Recent projects include a scoping review for a new water environment valuation framework (for the Environment Agency) and the development of a benefit assessment tool for sustainable drainage systems (for the Construction Industry Research and Innovation Association).
ELHAM KASHEFI
Elham is an experienced multi-disciplinary community-based researcher who, over the last 20 years, has been interested in developing her practice using collaborative research methodologies. She is currently working with CEP on the evaluation of the catchment-based approach (pilot stage) for Defra. She was recently involved in the CEP's evaluation of NERC's public dialogue on geoengineering and previously participated in a number of research projects on community responses to flooding. Elham has worked on several projects that have had an impact on policy and practice. Since 1996, Elham has primarily been working on processes for involving the public in decision-making and developed a new model of community-based citizens' juries. These juries construct local residents as local experts and use the space to hold professionals and their 'expertise' accountable to the community. Elham's PhD critiqued this work within wider theoretical debates about participation, and focused on elements of her group work that were successful in bringing about change at the local level. Elham is an experienced facilitator and has extensive experience of qualitative practice, data analysis and report writing both within her academic positions and in her capacity as research consultant.
JENNIFER MCGUINN
Jennifer is a senior policy associate at Milieu Ltd. She has thirteen years' experience working on environmental policy topics across the EU and Central and Eastern Europe. Her expertise includes environment and public financing programmes, environmental assessment, regional development and climate change. She has extensive experience in the management of multi-disciplinary teams and complex studies and projects, as well as a pan-European perspective to environmental policy gained from years of working for international organisations and multi-country projects. Jennifer joined Milieu in 2010, working on a range of environmental policy analyses covering waste management, water policy and a study to support the EEA's 2010 State of the Environment Report. As a freelance consultant since 2006, Jennifer was one of the principal authors of the (Interreg-funded) Greening Regional Development Programme's (GRDP) toolkit for integration of the environment into regional development programmes. She also serves as an advisor to the Interreg project Regions for Sustainable Change (RSC), a partnership of regions working to better integrate climate change and low carbon economy into regional planning. Jennifer worked for five years at the Regional Environmental Center (REC) for Central and Eastern Europe as Head of Programme and later Senior Expert, where she was responsible for programmes covering environmental assessment, environmental financing, biodiversity and rural development, and local government initiatives. She also led REC's work on analysing the environmental aspects of EU Cohesion Policy.
DR JUAN PALERM
Juan Palerm is an environment and climate change policy and management specialist based in Barcelona with extensive international experience in the design and implementation of environmental assessment and management tools, such as SEA, EIA and Environmental Management Systems. He has worked in different regions, including Europe, Latin America, Central Asia and Africa. His expertise combines work in the public sector, including national governments and international agencies, as well as in the private sector. He has led SEAs in South America, the Caribbean, Africa and the Balkans, and has also contributed to numerous studies on areas such as climate change adaptation and mitigation, environmental foresight and environmental policy. Juan is co-author of the European Commission's Guidelines for Environment and Climate Change Mainstreaming for Development Cooperation, and was a key contributor in designing and piloting environmental integration tools for the Commission's development cooperation, including EIA, SEA, Country Environmental Profile and Climate Risk Assessment. Juan has also prepared Sector Guidance Notes on Environment and Climate Change Mainstreaming to the European Commission's DG Development Cooperation and has wide experience in developing and delivering training to diverse stakeholders.
Maria Rosario Partidario
Maria is based in Portugal where she is responsible for the Environmental Group at the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Lisbon (The Instituto Superior Técnico, IST). Her expertise is in the fields of strategic assessment and sustainability, applied to various areas including tourism and urban sustainability. She undertakes research and consultancy work in many countries and has been involved in European research projects, directly with selected Directorate Generals, as well as Interreg and Framework Programmes such as COMMUTE, ANSEA (FP4), BIOSCENE (FP5) and BEACON. She has been advisor to national governments, such as Portugal, Chile, Brazil, Iran, China and Vietnam, and international organizations such as the World Bank, UNEP and UNDP, also developing international cooperation through bi-lateral organizations in the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland. Maria's research is focused on strategic-based methodological approaches as a support to sustainable decision-making. She publishes extensively and since early-1990 has been at the forefront of the development of Strategic Environmental Assessment in the world. She was awarded the first Individual Award (2001) of the International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA) for her theoretical and international contributions in the field of SEA.
David Payne
David is an environmental planner based in Brighton. He trained as a biologist (specialising in ecology) and town and country planner (MRTPI) and has over 20 years' post-qualification experience in public, voluntary and private sectors on a range of environmental planning projects, particularly waste and minerals, climate change adaptation, biodiversity, and water management. Recent public sector projects include contributing to developing a climate change framework for English local authorities, preparing evidence and providing support for waste and minerals plans, assessment of potential for , and assessing options for decentralised and renewable energy. He has recently undertaken research projects on behalf of the Planning Advisory Service (PAS). Current work for the private sector includes input to local and national planning and biodiversity policy on behalf of the minerals industry, preparation of planning applications for waste recovery and solar developments, and sustainability advice on other developments. David brings a wide range of environmental planning expertise to projects, good working knowledge of the UK planning system, and understanding of different sectors.
Nigel Watson
Dr Nigel Watson is a CEP Associate, a university Senior Lecturer, and an organisational trainer in collaborative working, with more than thirty years of experience in the field of environmental management and governance. After completing an MA in Natural Resources Management and a PhD in Geography, Dr Watson has worked on a wide range of research projects concerning the development and evaluation of integrated approaches for the planning, management and governance on land, water and related resources. He has conducted research in Brazil, Canada, China, Nigeria, and the USA, in addition to working on several research and development projects in the UK and the EU related to catchment management, and flood risk management.
His main areas of expertise and interest are institutional analysis, environmental policy evaluation, collaborative decision making, and stakeholder engagement. In particular, Dr Watson is interested in improving understanding and developing best practices for collaborative management and governance. Research-related distinctions include awards for community participation and impact, and visiting scholar appointments at the University of Oregon in the USA and the University of Waterloo in Canada. He is the independent chair for the Ribble Catchment Management Partnership in North West England, and also provides professional development courses on collaborative working for organisational leaders.
Dr Watson has an extensive publications record which includes journal papers, books and book chapters. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Fellow of the International Water Resources Association, and a member of the editorial board for Society and Natural Resources. Recently published work has focused on the institutional relationship between the Catchment-based Approach (CaBA) and the Water Framework Directive, and the development and impacts of citizen science for water resources management.
TONY ZAMPARUTTI
Tony has broad experience in environmental policy analysis and evaluation, gained in seven years as an official of the OECD Environment Directorate, subsequently as a freelance consultant working on environment and nature conservation at local level in Italy and now as principal policy advisor at Milieu Ltd. As an OECD official, Tony managed studies on environmental indicators and reporting systems and contributed to OECD environmental performance reviews of Central and Eastern European countries. At Milieu, Tony co-ordinated their four-year framework contract to support the European Environment Agency on policy analysis. Here, he worked on topics ranging from environmental information systems to Cohesion Policy to scenarios of Europe's environmental future. He has led and provided senior expertise for numerous studies to support the European Commission on evaluation and impact assessment, across issues including waste management, climate change adaptation and water management. He has been a senior expert on Member State implementation of the Water Framework Directive and the Floods Directive. He has also worked on the science/policy interface.