Dr James Van Alstine

Profile

James Van Alstine is Associate Professor in Environmental Policy within the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds.  He is an interdisciplinary environmental social scientist who works on the politics and governance of just energy transitions, natural resource policy and governance, and opportunities for low carbon, inclusive and climate resilient development. With over 20 years of experience in the global North and South, James seeks to bridge the academic-practitioner divide by pursuing action-oriented research that coproduces policy and practice. His work has been funded (>£2m) by a variety of sources, including UKRI, international donors, corporate foundations and NGOs, and has produced over 50 academic publications. 

Recent projects include evaluating the social acceptance of carbon, capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen technologies in England and Scotland (SSE, £50k), and exploring the opportunities and challenges to maximise social value in UK critical mineral supply chains (Innovate UK, £316k). Through Geosolutions Leeds (£2.8m research centre) he co-leads a team working with local and national government to maximise the use of geothermal assets in the development of heat networks in the UK. For nearly two decades he has worked extensively with local partners in sub-Saharan Africa to explore opportunities for community-driven accountability, deliberative decision-making and transparency in the extractive industries.  

Prior to joining the University of Leeds in 2008, James was a fellow in environmental policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he completed his PhD on corporate environmentalism in the South African petrochemical industry. He is a member of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures and is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He is also a writer, editor and team leader for the International Institute for Sustainable Development's Earth Negotiations Bulletin at United Nations multilateral environmental negotiations. James holds an MSc in Environmental Assessment and Evaluation from LSE and a BA in Philosophy from Northwestern University in the US.

Responsibilities

• Director of Student Education

Research interests

Research projects

• 2024-2025: Co-Investigator, Innovate UK, “Creating a low carbon, environmentally sustainable and socially just value chain for rare earth magnets”
• 2022-2023: Co-Investigator, SSE Thermal, “Public acceptance of CCUS and hydrogen in Humberside and Aberdeenshire”
• 2022: Co-Investigator, UKRI QR Funding, “Geothermal Yorkshire: Establishing a policy framework to capture existing shortfalls that inhibit the rollout of geothermal energy provision in Yorkshire and the wider UK”
• 2021-2022: Co-Investigator, British Academy’s Just Transition to Decarbonisation in the Asia-Pacific Programme, “Facilitating a Just, Fair, and Affordable Energy Transition in the Asia-Pacific”
• 2021-2022: Co-Investigator, White Rose Collaboration Fund, “Between post-colonial solidarity for sustainable energy transitions and neo-colonial extraction: Investigating India’s role in East African energy landscape”
• 2020: Co-Investigator, UKRI QR Funding, “Sustainable Geoenergy Solutions”, University of Leeds
• 2019: Principle Investigator, Energy Leeds, “Hydrogen Scoping Study”, University of Leeds, Principal Investigator
• 2018-2019: Principle Investigator, Oxfam America, “Stuck in Transition? High Carbon vs Low Carbon Development in Southern Africa”
• 2018-2023: Co-Investigator, Economic and Social Research Council, Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy: Phase III work package on Integrating climate and development policies for ‘climate compatible development’
• 2017-2019: Supervisor, Marie Curie Fellowship for Daniela Portella Sampaio, From an environmental to a resource regime? Institutional innovation for the management of Tourism and Marine Protected Areas within the Antarctic Treaty governance; funded by the European Commission
• 2016-2018: Principal Investigator, The future of polar governance; funded by the British Antarctic Survey
• 2014-2015: Principal Investigator, UN institution-building and sustainable development: Rio+20 follow up and the High-Level Political Forum; funded by the British Academy
• 2013-2014: Co-Investigator, Developing compatible energy and climate strategies; funded by the World Universities Network
• 2013-2018: Co-Investigator, Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy: Phase II work package on governing rapid transitions in mitigation and adaptation; funded by the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC)
• 2013-2014: Commissioned report, Localising transparency: Exploring EITI’s contribution to sustainable development; supported by the International Institute for Environment and Development
• 2012-2016: Principal Investigator, The Governance of Hydrocarbons in Uganda: Opportunities for Community-Driven Accountability in the Albertine Rift Region; funded by the Democratic Governance Facility
• 2012-2013: Principal Investigator, Developing a research agenda for the study of the politics of good governance in the emerging petro-economy, Uganda; funded by the British Academy
• 2008-2012: Principal Investigator, Rights, Risk and Responsibility: Building Capacities for Community-Company Engagement in the Extractive Industries; funded by the Alcoa Foundation

• Creating a low carbon, environmentally sustainable and socially just value chain for rare earth magnets

Professional memberships

• Priestley Centre of Climate Futures
• Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society

Student education

James seeks to prepare the environmental leaders of tomorrow with the critical thinking skills necessary to address the complex climate and sustainability challenges of the twenty-first century. In order to achieve this goal his teaching is problem-oriented, student-centred, and inclusive. He places great value on mentoring students and is committed to leadership and service in student education. James is currently Director of Student Education within the School of Earth and Environment (2022-present). Prior to this he was Director of Masters Education (2019-2022) and a Programme Leader for many years (2008-2015). 

James leads or contributes to range of modules within the School of Earth and Environment at both the masters and undergraduate levels, including: Climate and Environmental Policy and Governance; Environmental Politics and Policy; Sustainable Development, Politics and Policy; Strategic Energy Issues; Research Frontiers; and Research Project. 

PhD students

• Emrah Akyuz: Nuclear power and human rights in Japan: the case of the Fukushima disaster; Completed 2020
• Claire Bastin: An organisational fields analysis of the governance of coal: Insights into the prospects for the sustainability of 'new coal'; Completed 2018
• Arturo Andersen Chinbuah: The societal metabolism and resource curse of developing economies: A comparative study of Ghana and Ivory Coast; Completed 2017
• William Davies: Scale in environmental policy: exploring stakeholder perspectives of Arctic offshore petroleum; Completed 2018
• Ross Gillard: Governing turbulent transitions: the politics of climate and energy during austerity in the UK, 2006-2016; Completed 2018
• Jihyung Joo: Institutionalization of climate policy and carbon markets in the Paris-era; Completed 2022
• Kjell Kühne: Defusing carbon bombs – Analysing activism to keep fossil fuels in the ground; Completed 2022
• Angus Naylor: Monitoring the vulnerability of Inuit subsistence hunting to climate change: a case study of Ulukhaktok, Inuvialuit Settlement Region; Completed 2021 
• Alesia Ofori: The political ecology of the water-mining nexus in Ghana; Completed 2022
• Imogen Rattle: Fracking the online: An exploration of the digital in shaping contention over shale gas; Completed 2020
• Clare Richardson-Barlow: The international political economy of electricity markets: Cross-border electricity trade and interconnections in East Asia; Completed 2020
• Laura Smith: The making of Uganda’s oil: An exploration of subnational dynamics in an emerging East African oil frontier; Completed 2021

Research groups and institutes

• Sustainability Research Institute
• Social and Political Dimensions of Sustainability
• Environment and Development
• Energy and Climate Change Mitigation
• Business Organisations for Sustainable Societies

Current postgraduate researchers

• Ruth Jihyung Joo
• Angus William Naylor