The People
Peter Hjerp is the Director of Ecocentric Consulting and cofounded Ecocentric Consulting together with Ray Purdy in late 2014. Before starting Ecocentric Consulting, Peter worked at the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) for over 15 years as a Senior Policy Analyst. Over the years Peter has developed an expertise in environmental policy integration, environmental assessments, EU funding instruments, environmental law, climate change adaptation and ecosystem services.
Peter has won and been in charge of many high profile projects for the European Commission. For DG Regio he led a large consortium on improving environmental integration within Cohesion Policy, both in terms of reducing the environmental impact of EU projects as well as increasing the funding for innovative environmental projects. The project led to several recommendations and many of these have been considered for the current funding period. For DG Climate Action, Peter led a project on improved funding for climate change adaptation and biodiversity. The project produced practical guidance documents for all relevant actors and these were part of the EU’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy Package.
Peter has conducted several transposition and implementation studies for different DGs, and produced reports about the evolvement of the EU’s regulatory agenda in relation to the environment. He has been responsible for a number of chapters within the Manual of European Environmental Policy, as well as the European Investment Bank’s Handbook on EU Environmental Law, Principles and Standards. In addition he has conducted many Impact Assessments for the Commission, as well as assessed the quality of Impact Assessments at both national and EU level. He has contributed to guidance documents on the application of SEA for WWF, RSPB and local authorities. Peter was involved in the Impact Assessment of the recent EIA proposal for DG Environment and is one of the authors of their SEA Handbook. Peter has been a member of the UK Chemicals Stakeholder Forum (which advises government on managing the risks of chemicals to the environment and to human health) and the EPOS network (Evaluating Policies of Sustainable Development). Peter is a Senior Associate of Air and Space Evidence and an Associate of the Institute for European Environmental Policy. He holds Master’s degrees from both London School of Economics and Political Science and Helsinki University of Technology.
Peter lives with his family (Pip and Edvin) in Chalford Hill and has the unintentional hobby of renovating an old cottage.
Ray Purdy is a Senior Research Fellow at Ecocentric Consulting. He holds an LLB Hons Law Degree and LLM Masters Degree in Environmental Law. He had nineteen years experience working as an environmental law researcher at three of the world’s top five universities (QS University World Rankings, September 2014) - Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford (1995-1996); Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College (1996-2003); and Centre for Law and Environment, University College London (2000-2014). At UCL he was a Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the Centre for Law and the Environment and remains an Honorary Senior Research Associate (2014-).
He has developed a substantial personal research profile of international standing, undertaking research on a wide variety of environmentally related topics; sometimes in collaboration with lawyers of different expertise, economists, policy specialists, engineers, and natural and physical scientists. Much of his research work is seen as original thinking and cutting edge and he has undertaken a number of internationally recognised research studies on topics including GMOs, climate change, and satellite monitoring of environmental laws. He has had his research directly reported within United Nations Convention meetings.
Ray has been the Assistant Editor of the Journal of Environmental Law (Oxford University Press), the Managing Editor of Climate Policy (Elsevier Press (now Taylor & Francis)), and a guest editor for the Journal for European Environmental & Planning Law (Brill / Nijhoff). He has published widely and has contributed to the United Nation’s Environment Programme, Manual on Compliance with and Enforcement of Multilateral Environmental Agreements.
During his career he has been a Global Review Panel Member for Europol; Member of the Environmental Regulatory Evidence Network; Member of Chatham House; Member of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Peer Review College; and Member of the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association. He is also a founding Director of the “space detective” company, Air and Space Evidence Ltd.
Ray lives in Chalford with his family (Rache, Elsa and Kitty) and their dog (Jaska). His favourite way of spending his free time is exploring the UK with the family in their Mazda Bongo Camper Van, or travelling to new places across the world.
Associates – Environmental Research Bureau
Our Senior Associates in our Environmental Research Bureau provide specialist scientific, technical and legal support on projects as required.
Carrie Bradshaw is a Lecturer in Law at the University of York. Before this, she was based for many years at University College London (UCL), reading law as an undergraduate and later as a research student. During the years in between her study, she was academic co-ordinator for the UCL Centre for Law and the Environment, and held a Teaching Fellowship in tort. Carrie’s work looks at the interface of environmental law, company law and regulation, and considers the role for law and regulation in fostering a pro-environmental ‘conscience’ within companies. Her doctoral thesis, Corporations, responsibility and the environment, will be published as a monograph by Hart Publishing in 2016. Carrie’s current research focuses on the governance of food waste, particularly the ‘regulatory’ behaviour of private actors in the food supply chain. Carrie has a general research background in environmental law, particularly regulatory enforcement, climate change (especially mitigation), environmental liability and environmental courts / tribunals. She also retains research interests in tort, particularly as to the relationship between tortious liability and corporate environmental responsibility. After 10 wonderful years in London, Carrie moved to York, where she pursues her interests in eating good food and playing the Ukulele extremely badly.
Malcolm Fergusson has twenty-five years’ experience of environmental issues, technologies and policy. For most of this time he has worked on climate change, energy and transport at national and European levels, with a particular focus on low-carbon transport. From 2008-2011 he was Head of Climate Change at the Environment Agency in England, leading its work on both climate change mitigation and adaptation. Prior to that he was a Senior Fellow at the Institute for European Environmental Policy, Europe’s leading independent centre for the development and analysis of environmental policy, where he led the team working on a wide range of transport, energy and climate change policy issues. He is now an independent consultant. He is an expert in EU and UK environmental law and policy, accustomed to influencing and giving authoritative policy advice at the highest levels. Malcolm has also led research in a number of distinctive environment-related aspects of transport policy including: company car taxation and other forms of environmental taxation; development of the EU Regulation on Cars and CO₂; energy use in transport and the environmental implications of alternative fuels; the implications of alternative models of car ownership and use; and impact assessments of environmental interventions in the transport sector. Clients have included: DG Environment of the European Commission, UK government departments (mainly Cabinet Office, Defra and the Department for Transport), UN Environment Programme, World Bank, European Environment Agency, Natural England, Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, European Climate Foundation, Ford Motor Co, Greenpeace, Transport and Environment, Transport for London and the Volvo Foundation. Malcolm has also served on a wide range of advisory panels and acted as an expert witness to a number of formal inquiries and investigations. In 2001, he joined the Cabinet Office’s Performance and Innovation Unit, where he led their work on transport for the Government's Review of Energy Policy. In 2006, he was appointed expert adviser to the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee Inquiry on climate change.
Pierre Hausemer is the Managing Director of VVA-Europe and has a wide experience in working with the European institutions on evaluations, impact assessment, economic and market analysis and technical studies. Over the course of his career, Pierre has led and contributed to studies across the European Commission, the European Parliament, decentralised agencies, national governments and business trade associations. Across the European Commission he has worked for DG MARKT, DG RTD, DG BUDGET, DG ENTR, DG SANCO, DG JUST, DG HOME, DG REGIO and others. Evaluation and impact assessment have been key themes in Pierre’s work. He has led several framework contracts on evaluation and impact assessment for different DGs (EMPL, SANCO, MARKT, ENTR), led and contributed to numerous evaluation studies and spoken at conferences including the European Evaluation Society. Before moving to London, Pierre worked as an economic consultant in Washington, DC on issues surrounding the liberalisation of telecoms markets, copyright and international trade. Pierre has published papers and spoken at conferences in the UK and abroad. In addition to English, he is fluent in French and German, and he speaks basic Spanish and Italian. At the London School of Economics, he has taught quantitative research methods for postgraduate students and he has lectured on European Politics and Policy. Pierre holds a PhD from the London School of Economics as well as a BSc in Economics from Miami University in the United States and a Master of Science in Comparative Politics (distinction) from the London School of Economics.
Donald McGillivray is Professor of Environmental Law at the University of Sussex. He has worked as an academic environmental lawyer for over 20 years, being previously at the University of Kent (where he was Professor of Law) and Birkbeck College, University of London. With others he is the author of Environmental Law (Oxford Univ Press) which is now in its 8th edition and which is regarded by many as a leading text in the field. Donald has an interest in all aspects of environmental law but has particular interests in issues which involve land use and nature conservation, including biodiversity conservation law, environmental assessment and planning law, tort law and the protection of green space. Recent work has included looking at ecological mitigation and compensation in legal regimes like the EU Habitats Directive and Environmental Assessment Directives; stewardship and land ownership; and the law on town and village greens. Previous work includes (with Prof William Howarth) a major work on water law (Water Pollution and Water Quality Law). Donald has undertaken consultancy work for a number of organizations including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, World Bank and the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. His academic work is widely cited and has been cited before various courts and tribunals including the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body and the Court of Appeal and High Court in England and Wales. He is on the editorial committee of the Journal of Environmental Law and is an active member of the UK Environmental Law Association.
John Murlis is an environmental scientist with over 30 years of experience of the practical application of evidence-based policy, with particular expertise in the fields of environmental sustainability, air quality and climate change. He is currently an independent environment strategy consultant, with a wide portfolio of public and private sector clients. He has previously held a number of posts in the public services, including as Chief Scientist and Director of Strategy, Environment Agency for England and Wales, as the Director of the Institute for Environmental Policy at University College London and as Head of Research and Assessments at HM Inspectorate of Pollution. Recent consultancy projects include contributions to the UK assessment of climate change adaptation, strategic science reviews for UK Departments of State, technology assessment for environmental industries, research portfolio planning for UK research bodies and implementation support to international environmental organisations. He was appointed Chief Scientific Advisor to The CarbonNeutral Company in 2005 and is a member of the Company’s Independent Advisory Committee. Professor Murlis was trained as an engineer and as an atmospheric physicist and is the author or co-author of over 30 publications on science, environment and policy.
Ian Skinner is Director of Transport and Environmental Policy Research (TEPR - www.tepr.co.uk), London, UK. He is an independent researcher and consultant with over 20 years of experience in undertaking research and consultancy projects focusing on the environmental impacts of transport. His PhD from University College London was on the implementation of sustainable transport policies in South East England and he has also undertaken research at the University of Kent on the marginal cost pricing of transport. Since his PhD, Ian has worked at the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) and AEA (now Ricardo-AEA) before co-founding TEPR in 2009. Ian’s work focuses on the implementation and evaluation of sustainable transport policies for national and international organisations. Much of Ian’s work has been undertaken at the European level for the European Commission, which has involved impact assessments and evaluations of various EU transport and environmental policies. He has also worked for UNEP, including in support of their EST goes EAST project, and been an independent evaluator for the European Commission. Ian is currently the Local Transport expert on the Expert Panel for the European Green Capital Award for 2017 and is the author of the chapter on European transport policy for a recent Edgar Elgar book Research Handbook on Climate Change Mitigation Law (Van Calster and Vandenberghe (eds)).