The chief executive of the UK’s Climate Change Committee has been appointed as an Honorary Professor of the University of Glasgow’s new Centre for Public Policy.
Chris Stark, and another appointee - Sarah Davidson, CEO at the Dunfermline-based charitable foundation, Carnegie UK - are the first Honorary Professors to join the Centre.
Professor Stark’s first engagement with the university will be at the Centre’s inaugural event on November 14, which will question whether the UK is still on track to Net Zero, and the challenges that will face whichever party leads government after the next general election.
Professor Stark, who was previously the Scottish Government’s Director of Energy and Climate Change, has also worked for HM Treasury and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. He graduated from the university in 2002 with a degree in Finance and Law.
Sunak warned by advisers off-track net zero aims 'even harder to hit'
He said: "I’m honoured to join the new Centre for Public Policy to explore the challenges of addressing climate change and the implications of the net-zero transition. Glasgow hosted world leaders two years ago at the COP26 climate summit.
“In this talk, I'll reflect on progress since COP26 and on the emerging fractures in the politics of climate. As the planet warms, how will politics survive a clash with physics?"
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak came under fire in September after controversially pushing key dates to clean up transport and heating systems. Professor Stark, interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, refuted Mr Sunak's assertion that the country was on a path to meet its Net Zero targets, saying: “It’s difficult to escape the idea that we’ve moved backwards from where we were when we did our last assessment of progress … in June".
The Centre for Public Policy, which has been set up to enhance the contribution of the University to the public policy process, will draw on research expertise from across the University community, helping to build capacity within the policy community to help policymakers deal with the myriad challenges they face.
The centre’s director, Nicola McEwen, Professor of Public Policy, said: “Governments and parliamentarians are having to confront many difficult policy and societal challenges, from climate change to tackling inequality, and ensuring the economy keeps pace with demographic and technological change.
Tory culture warriors' u-turn on climate action imperils us all
“Universities have a wealth of expertise that can support public policy. The establishment of the Centre for Public Policy reflects a commitment from the University of Glasgow to play our part in working with the policy community - locally, nationally and internationally - to access expertise, evidence, and to devise the right tools to find solutions to the challenges they face.
“As we build our team within the Centre, we are delighted to be joined by our first Honorary Professors.
“Both Chris and Sarah have made an inspiring contribution to public policy and practice, bringing extensive experience from the highest levels of policy and government.”
"The new Centre for Public Policy offers just such a space for learning; as someone who has spent their career in the pursuit of public policy outcomes I am delighted and excited to be joining it in its early days. I look forward to working with the Director, faculty from across the University, and the students to explore and learn from each other about the art of the public policy process.”
Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, said: “It’s fantastic to see our new Centre for Public Policy come to life.
"Led by Professor Nicola McEwen, the Centre will bring together a host of experts, influencers and thinkers from across the political and policy landscape to consider how we can improve the policymaking processes in Scotland, across the UK and beyond.
Climate advisers: UK has 'undermined' COP26 progress with oil push
“As universities, one of our core missions should be to provide a space for robust, informed and healthy debate. At Glasgow we want to continue to use our research, our community and our wider activity to engage with the public and support better long-term policymaking. With the creation of this new Centre, we will bring a broader perspective to national discussions on the key challenges facing society today, and I very much look forward to seeing all that the Centre has planned in the months and years ahead.”
Professor Sara Carter, Head of the College of Social Sciences, said: “The College has made a major investment in the new Centre for Public Policy and I am delighted that Professor Nicola McEwen has joined the University as its founding Director. Nicola will lead a team of nine newly appointed staff and our Honorary Professors, as we focus on supporting and improving the public policy process”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here