Faculty of Social Sciences
Department of Geography
Staff Profile
Robert Chris
r.g.chris@open.ac.uk
Research Student
Geography
Profile
After almost 40 years in the world of commerce as a Chartered Accountant and then director of many companies in a wide range of sectors, I now have the luxury of contemplating in earnest whether climate change is the threat to life as we know it, that many commentators believe. My PhD research explores the way in which geoengineering opens new perspectives on the spatial politics of climate change and highlights the tension between policymakers’ domestic priorities and the wider interests of the global community and the biosphere generally. It explores three dimensions of geoengineering - the technologies, its international relations context and environmental ethics and justice concerns as well as the intersections between the three domains.
Qualifications
I graduated from the University of Southampton with first degree in Maths in 1968. After almost 30 years of intermittent Open University undergraduate modules I was awarded a First Class Honours in 2008. In 2009, I obtained a distinction from UCL at Masters entitled Environment Science & Society.
Professional affiliations
Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales (1971)
Associate of the Institute of Financial Services (1974)
Recent publications
A Clean Energy Miracle? - Diplomat Magazine April 2010
COP15 – When is an agreement not an agreement? - Diplomat Magazine March 2010
COP15 – A Nightmare before Christmas? – Diplomat Magazine Dec/Jan 2009
A repository of research publications and other research outputs can be viewed at The Open University's Open Research Online.