Nick Harrison

Biography

Nick has worked for over a decade in public, private and non-governmental sectors researching, developing and promoting skills, knowledge and behavior for delivering sustainability and tackling climate change. He has broadcasted and published widely and received numerous awards for innovation.

In 2007 whilst training with LEAD Europe, Nick was also awarded a fellowship from the Norfolk Charitable Trust and undertook a study tour travelling internationally to explore the views of leaders in government, business and civil society about climate change and energy policy in the global economy (www.energypolicyclimate.org).

As Head of Evidence at the South West Centre for Excellence in Sustainable Communities, Nick coordinated & steered various projects for the UK Office of the Deputy Prime Minister championing organisational change among local strategic partnerships and NGOs to improve the sustainability of regeneration and development strategy and investment.

Previously, Nick worked on regeneration and social-exclusion policy for the Chief Executive of the City Government in Bristol and prior to this as a research analyst in the city of London, exploring Ethnical Investment and leading research for the UK Investor Relations Society Awards. He previously lived and worked at the Centre for Alternative Technology (www.cat.org.uk) and for eight years wrote a quarterly sustainable development news feature for an international development journal.

Nick graduated in Psychology from Swansea University, Wales in 1996. He also holds an MSc in Organisational Psychology from City University, London, has undertaken advanced communications training and is a member of the British Psychological Society.

At the age of 17, Nick became chair of the UK’s first Youth Parliament and as an undergraduate chaired both ‘Green Action’ and ‘Third-World First’ student societies and campaigned widely on environmental and social-justice issues. Nick was a founding trustee of a local carbon-reduction charity in Bristol, UK (www.transitionbristol.org) and currently serves on the board of a social innovation workspace in Bristol called the Hub (www.the-hub.net).

In his spare time, he plays guitar, enjoys gardening cooking, photography, carpentry and outdoor pursuits. Nick practices Aikido and is most happy in the company of good friends, making music, exploring the wilderness and inventing things.

This biography was last updated on June 3, 2008