Dr Jonathan Busch

Profile

I am a Lecturer in the Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) in the School of Earth and Environment, having joined as a Research Fellow in 2011. My research and teaching interests span across interdisciplinary topics addressing the transition to a sustainable economy, with a particular focus on sustainable business models, green industrial policies and ecological economics. In my research role, I co-lead the Teaching and Scholarship Research Cluster in the School of Earth and Environment, and I am a member of the interdisciplinary Business and Organisations for Sustainable Societies (BOSS) and Economics and Policy for Sustainability (Econopol) research groups. On teaching, I lead the BA Environment & Business programme and teach on a number of sustainable business and ecological economics modules at both undergraduate and masters level.

Before holding a Lectureship, I held positions and research and teaching fellow in Earth and Environment, Civil Engineering and Physics. In these roles, I worked on a series of projects including: the EPSRC Undermining Infrastructure project, the EPSRC/ESRC iBuild (Infrastructure Business Models, Valuation and Innovation for Local Delivery) centre, the NERC/ESRC funded CVORR (Complex Value Optimisation for Resource Recovery) project and most recently CCCEP (the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy).

Responsibilities

• BA Environment & Business Programme Lead

Research interests

Current Projects

PRINZ – Productive and Inclusive Net Zero [ESRC]

My role in this project is to study the organisation and impacts of Grand Challenge research consortia that are based on inter- and trans-disciplinary approaches to net zero, innovation and industrial policy. 

CLIMATES – creating a low-carbon, environmentally sustainable and socially just supply chain for rare earth magnets [Innovate UK]

Our role in this project is to contribute to the methodology for assessing social impacts and social justice in the rare earth magnet supply chain, drawing on insights from work on mining standards and social life cycle assessment.

Hardknott Life [SEE]

A seedcorn project to understand the social impacts of the Restoring Hardknott Forest projects on volunteers. We hope this pilot project will lead to further research on the interaction between businesses, communities and biodiversity regeneration projects. 

• Creating a low carbon, environmentally sustainable and socially just value chain for rare earth magnets
• Productive & Inclusive Net Zero (PRINZ)

Qualifications

• PhD, Theoretical Physics, University of Leeds
• MSci (Hons), Physics, Imperial College London

Professional memberships

• Member of the International Society for Ecological Economics

Student education

I currently lead the BA Environment & Business programme and have contributed to teaching on sustainable business and ecological economics topics in the School of Earth and Environment since 2012. I supervise undergraduate and masters dissertation projects on a variety of topics.

In 2018, I led the development of the Discovering Sustainability student journal as a means of publicising the work of our students as co-creators of their education. The journal gives students across the University an opportunity to publish articles on issues in sustainability that they feel passionate about communicating. This can include topics they have explored in modules, the results of their dissertation research, or extracurricular interests.

Research groups and institutes

• Economics and Policy for Sustainability
• Sustainability Research Institute
• Business Organisations for Sustainable Societies
• Energy and Climate Change Mitigation