Professor Martin Price, Director of the Centre for Mountain Studies
- PhD in Geography, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA
- MSc in Environmental Science, University of Calgary, Canada
- BSc (Sp.Hons) in Natural Environmental Science, University of Sheffield, UK
Research Activities
Since the late 1970s, Martin has conducted research in the mountains of North America, Western and Eastern Europe, and Siberia, focusing on the interactions of resident and visiting people with environmental processes, with particular emphasis on forestry, tourism, conservation, and the implementation of policies and interdisciplinary research.
Working at the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Unit (now Institute) from 1992, he established the Unit's Mountain Regions and Conservation Programme in 1995, where he supervised a number of MSc and DPhil students, in addition to lecturing.
Previously, he was Scientific Associate of the Institute of Geography of the University of Bern, Switzerland; Scientific Director of the International Centre for Alpine Environments, Bourget-du-Lac, France; and Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA.
Current responsibilities
- UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Mountain Development
- Chairman: IUCN Mountain Initiative Taskforce
- Chairman: Tayside Biodiversity Partnership
- Vice-chair: Mountain Forum
Professional Membership
- Advisory Committee on Biosphere Reserves, UNESCO
- Scientific Council, Institut de la Montagne (Chambéry, France): Vice-chair
- World Heritage Technical Advisor, IUCN - The World Conservation Union
- World Commission on Protected Areas of IUCN - The World Conservation Union
- Commission on Ecosystem Management of IUCN - The World Conservation Union
- Editorial Committee, Revue de Géographie Alpine/Journal of Alpine Research
- Arbeitsgemeinschaft für vergleichende Hochgebirgsforschung
- Commission on Diversity in Mountain Systems, International Geographical Union
- UK National Committee for UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme
- Edinburgh Consortium for Rural Research
- Rural Land Use Working Group, Scottish Biodiversity Forum
In 2007, Martin was recognised for his work as a Principal Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) when he, and other members of the IPCC, shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former US Vice-President Al Gore.
From 1996-2000, Professor Price was Coordinator of the Task Force on Forests in Sustainable Mountain Development of the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO), for which he received an IUFRO Distinguished Service Award.
He was also the founding chairman of the Royal Geographical Society's Mountain Research Group (1998-2003)
From 1995 to 2000, Professor Price acted as the Focal Point for Mountain Activities of IUCN's European Programme. In this capacity, he was a primary organiser of the European Inter-governmental Consultation on Sustainable Mountain Development (1996), involving 33 European countries and the European Commission; and was responsible for the implementation of Action Theme 10 (mountain ecosystems) of the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy.
Professor Price has acted as a consultant to a number of international organisations, and has undertaken many activities relating to the human dimensions of global environmental change (HDGEC), including acting as Secretary of the International Social Science Council's (ISSC) Standing Committee on HDGEC, and preparing research strategies for the US National Science Foundation, the US Forest Service, the European Commission, and the ISSC.
He is also Editor-In-Chief of the International Journal of Biodiversity Science and Management; Associate Editor-in- Chief of the Journal of Mountain Science and Mountain Media Editor of the quarterly journal 'Mountain Research and Development'.