Professor Andy Jordan is Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. He was appointed in May 2025.
I have over thirty years of practical experience in environmental and climate change research. I study the politics that arise when attempts are made to govern environmental problems using the tools and methods of public policy. I have examined how these different forms of politics have played out in relation to the use of policy instruments, policy coordination across sectors, policy innovation and policy dismantling. I undertake comparative work on these topics in policy areas such as climate change and sustainable development. I am particularly interested in governing processes that occur in the European Union, its Member States and countries outside of Europe.
I have published many papers and books on these topics, including The Tools of Policy Formulation (Edward Elgar, 2015, with John Turnpenny) and Durable by Design? (CUP, 2020, with Brendan Moore). Google Scholar ranks me amongst the world’s most highly cited researchers in the fields of environment policy, climate policy, environmental politics and the European Union.
In the past, I have taken on leadership roles in many large national and EU-funded projects, and produced work for a large number of knowledge users including the OECD, the UK Cabinet Office, the UK environment ministry (DEFRA), UK Foresight, the European Commission, the Dutch Environment Ministry, WWF and the RSPB. In 2015-16 I served as a specialist advisor to the UK Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee during its inquiry on the EU referendum. In 2016-20, I served on the Scientific Committee of the European Environment Agency. Between 2014 and 2018 I Chaired COST Action IS1309 (Innovations in Climate Governance –INOGOV, 2014-8), an extensive, 28 country network of excellence which was ranked amongst the top 4 performing Actions (total = 669, 2014-2020)) for its “breakthrough” outputs and impact.
I currently serve on DEFRA’s Science Advisory Council: Social Science Expert Group (2018- ), the UK Office for Environmental Protection’s College of Experts and the editorial boards of three international academic journals – West European Politics, Policy Sciences and Environmental Politics. Since 2021 I have served on British Triathlon’s Sustainability Commission which in 2023 advised on a sector-leading sustainability strategy for the swim, bike and run community in the UK. In 2022 I joined the Board of the Campaign for Social Science which aims to demonstrate how social science improves public policy, society and all our lives.
In 2008 I was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) and in 2022 a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA). In 2018 I was awarded Fellow membership of the Institute for Environmental Management and Assessment (FIEMA) in recognition of my policy impact work.
I am currently working on three main things:
- Climate Change Policy and Politics post Paris: a large, five year ERC Advanced Grant project ‘DeepDCarb‘ – Deep Decarbonisation: the Democratic Challenge of Navigating Governance Traps.
- The ESRC Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations, specifically co-leading Theme 2 (Learning)
- Brexit and the Environment – an award winning ESRC funded academic network which seeks to understand what challenges and opportunities Brexit raises for environmental policy.
Websites
- UEA – https://people.uea.ac.uk/a_jordan
- Researchgate – https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrew_Jordan
- CAST – https://cast.ac.uk/team/professor-andy-jordan/
Visiting Professorships:
Australian National University (2005-6); University of Queensland, Brisbane (2012)
Prizes and Awards:
ERC Advanced Grant (DeepDCarb) (2021-2026)
Philip Leverhulme Prize fellowship (2003-6)
Contemporary European Studies Association, annual best book prize (2007)
Harold D. Lasswell Prize for the best article in Policy Sciences (2011)
Lloyds Science of Risk prize for Climate Change research (2012)
Insight of the Year – 2017 ENDS Environmental Impact Awards (for work on the EU Referendum)
Web of Science, Highly Cited Researcher – ranking in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year – one of only 180 social scientists in the world (2017).
Fellowships etc:
Philip Leverhulme Prize fellowship (2003-6)
Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship (2010-3)
Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) (2008-)
Fellow of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (FIEMA) (2018-)
Fellow of the British Academy (2022-)
