Professor Michael Winter OBE

Extension: 3837

Telephone: 01392 723837

Professor & Director of the Centre for Rural Policy Research

Michael is a rural policy specialist and a rural social scientist with particular interests in applying inter-disciplinary approaches to policy-relevant research and in direct engagement in the policy process. Within the University he is a member of the Climate Change and Sustainable Future Core Theme Team, and of management boards for both the Sport, Leisure & Tourism for Egenis research centre. He chairs the Science Advisory Board and is a trustee of the BBSRC North Wyke Research centre; a Commissioner for the Commission for Rural Communities, formerly Chair of the South West Rural Affairs Forum, and President of Devon Rural Network. In 2000, he was a member of the Committee of Inquiry into Hunting with Dogs in England and Wales chaired by Lord Burns. He is a member of DEFRA’s Panel of Agricultural & Environmental Economists and the SWRDA's Panel of Economists. He is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and the Journal of Rural Enterprise and Management. His current research interests, among others, focus on rural policy analysis and governance with a specific focus on regionalism; sustainable agro-food systems and food security; climate change and rural land use; the historical and contemporary sociology of west country agriculture; & farmer environmental attitudes and decision-making, particularly in the context of diffuse pollution and water quality.