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The University of Oxford and Sir David King create School of Enterprise and the Environment

29 November 2007

Sir David King, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, has accepted the role of Director of the newly formed Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University. 

Founded by a benefaction from the Martin Smith Foundation, the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment will conduct multidisciplinary research on private solutions to environmental problems, and promote environmental study as part of mainstream social science degree programmes. It will serve as a global hub drawing together academics from different University departments to work with policy-makers and business leaders in developing practical solutions to the environmental challenges of the 21st century.

It will build upon the University’s existing strength, with units such as the Oxford University Centre for the Environment, the Environmental Change Institute, and the Saïd Business School actively involved in the creation and ongoing life of the new School. The School will be based in the University’s Social Sciences Division.  The founding benefaction from the Martin Smith Foundation will fund the core costs of the School and further donations are now being sought to endow academic posts and research and, in due course, a building.

Sir David said: ‘I am delighted to be taking up this post and excited by the challenge of establishing the new School as a world leader. The School will conduct interdisciplinary research to find private sector solutions to environmental problems. It will collaborate with business and government to look at solving issues that are unprecedented in scale and global in scope.’

Martin Smith, himself an Oxford graduate, approached the University 18 months ago with the idea of a School focusing on private sector solutions to environmental problems. The School has the aim of ‘normalizing’ green consciousness: It will promote environmental study as part of mainstream degree programmes, teaching students of core disciplines such as business, economics, politics, law, geography, as well as environmental science, that environmental problems are relevant to all disciplines.

Martin Smith said: ‘The long-term goal of the School is to place Oxford University at the forefront of global thinking and education in business-led solutions to the crucial environmental challenges facing the world. The University is already making a world-class contribution with its environmental research. We are thrilled that Sir David has agreed to be the School’s first Director, as this will ensure we are able to attract the very best talent from across the world. I look forward to continuing to support him and Oxford in this important initiative.’

The Vice-Chancellor, Dr John Hood, added: ‘Oxford University is enormously grateful for the generous benefaction from the Martin Smith Foundation that has ensured this exciting project can be made a reality.  Martin Smith and his wife Elise have devoted great energy and enthusiasm to this initiative to combat global climate change. They recognise that environmental problems require enlightened action from the private and public sectors across national and international arenas’.

  ‘The appointment of Sir David King is a truly marvellous start to what promises to be a key multi-disciplinary venture. Few are as well placed as Sir David, with his extensive experience at the most senior level and his own scientific background in the field, to shape the School in its formative years.’

Sir David will take up this position on 1 January 2008, upon his departure as the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser.

For more information contact the University Press Office on 01865 280534 or press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk

 

Notes for Editors:

*Sir David King was appointed as the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser and Head of the Government Office for Science (GO-Science) in October 2000 – formally the Office for Science and Innovation.

*Sir David was born in South Africa in 1939, and after an early career at the University of Witwatersrand, Imperial College and the University of East Anglia, he became the Brunner Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Liverpool in 1974. In 1988, he was appointed 1920 Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Cambridge and subsequently became Master of Downing College (1995-2000), and Head of the University Chemistry Department (1993-2000).

*Oxford University Centre for the Environment (OUCE) consists of the Environmental Change Institute, the School of Geography, and the Transport Studies Unit. The Environmental Change Institute (ECI) is an interdisciplinary unit that undertakes research on environmental issues, teaches an MSc in Environmental Change and Management and fosters university-wide networks and outreach on the environment. Within the ECI The Transport Studies Unit has an established international research reputation in the fields of transport policy analysis, the development of new methodologies and behavioural studies with emphasis on the environmental implications of transport. The School of Geography is the academic department of the heart of the OUCE; research includes climate systems and biodiversity. 

* The UK Climate Impacts Programme is based at Oxford University and is funded by DEFRA. It helps organisations assess how they might be affected so they can adapt to climate change. UKCIP works with its stakeholders and co-ordinates research on how climate change will have an impact at regional and national levels.

*The James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization at the Saïd Business School identifies science and technology issues as critical in shaping the future of world civilization. It conducts research to help humanity to shape a brighter future for itself and the natural environment on which it depends.

* Established in 1996 the Saïd Business School is a full service business school and one of Europe’s newest and fastest growing business schools. The School has an established reputation for research in a wide range of areas, including finance and accounting, organisational analysis, international management, strategy and operations management. The school is dedicated to developing a new generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs and conducting research not only into the nature of business, but the connections between business and the wider world.

 

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