Jim Longhurst retired from UWE, Bristol on the 29th of September 2023. Prior to this he was Professor of Environmental Science and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Environment and Sustainability. He led the university’s sustainability agenda ensuring that sustainability considerations were present in the university’s teaching, research, campus operations and civic engagement work. His 40-year research career focussed on air and carbon management and urban sustainability. He produced over 225 peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and edited 24 books. His career research and consultancy income exceeded £14 million. He supervised 31 PhD and MPhil degrees to completion and served as external examiner for 36 research degrees in the UK, Ireland, Australia, India, Malaysia, Mauritius and South Africa. He was an external evaluator for 40 senior appointments at UK and international institutions and a chair, deputy chair, panellist and reviewer for UKRI. He has reviewed proposals for research bodies in Germany, Austria, Portugal, Canada and South Africa. For Portugal’s FCT, he chaired the Global Changes Panel and the second stage Environmental Research Centre review. From 2000, he was the co-chair of the Annual Air Pollution Conference. He has advised national and international government departments, private companies and third sector bodies on air and carbon management. He co-founded the Institute of Air Quality Management.
He has held various senior roles at UWE Bristol including HoD, AD for Learning and Teaching, AD External Engagement and AD Research. He has served on most major committees of the university and led major reviews and initiatives including the Green Capital Strategy and the UWE Grand Challenge. He chaired the HEA’s ESD Advisory Group and the HEA /QAA Development Group, which produced the UK guidance on ESD. In his career he chaired the Institution of Environmental Sciences Council, the Committee of Heads of Environmental Sciences, the GEES Subject Centre Advisory Board, the GWR Sustainability Panel and the QAA Benchmarking Panel for Earth Sciences, Environmental Science and Environmental Studies. He was a Director of Society for the Environment and the Science Council. He served as a Climate Commissioner.
On behalf of Estonian Quality Agency, he was panel member accrediting the Estonian University of Life Sciences. He was an external assessor for the Institutional Audit of the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. For Portugal’s A3ES he served on the evaluation panel for a University of Lisbon PhD proposal. He was an external examiner for provision at Plymouth, Southampton and UEA and validated provision at Hertfordshire, Oxford Brookes, Middlesex, Greenwich and Southampton. He serves as Vice President of the Institution of Environmental Sciences and was President of Environmental Protection UK and chair of the Board of EAUC. He continues to serve as chair of the Bristol Green Capital Partnership CIC. He served as founding co-chair for Bristol’s Advisory Committee on Climate Change and chaired the UWE group supporting South Gloucestershire Council’s climate emergency action programme. His biographical details were first included in Who’s Who in 2004.
Profile correct as of October 2023