Personal Profiles

Dr Philip Sinclair

MA CertEd DipQS MSc MIEnvSc PhD CEnv

Senior Research Fellow

Research Interests:

Philip Sinclair (BA, Mathematics and Engineering, Cambridge University, 1984; MA, Mathematics and Engineering, Cambridge University, 1987; Certificate in Education, Garnett College, Roehampton, 1987; Postgraduate Diploma in Quantity Surveying, Nottingham Trent University, 1992; MSc, Environmental Psychology, University of Surrey, 1998; PhD, Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey, 2002) became Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Environmental Strategy in August 2006. Previously he was a Research Officer and then Research Fellow at the Centre for Environmental Strategy and the Polymer Research Centre, University of Surrey. He is a Chartered Environmentalist, Member of the International Society for Industrial Ecology and the Institution of Environmental Sciences, and UK representative on the Management Committee for EU Cost Action 530 “Life Cycle Inventories for Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing Processes”.

Philip’s interests are in systems and risk analysis and their application in the areas of industrial ecology, life cycle assessment and decision-making. The work is aimed at whole system challenges of sustainable development and participatory governance. A key challenge is the structuring and analysis of qualitative narratives. The use of sustainable development frameworks developed in the TSEC-BioSys project can aid the integration of the methodologies of Life Cycle Assessment and bounded function assessments (‘footprinting’); as well as Multi-Objective Decision-Making and the analysis of spatial flows (trade). More broadly, it can also aid the development of agreed structures of qualities-and-quantities in decision support and broadened theories of risk.

The work demands skills in both quantitative and qualitative methods. Philip has extensive experience of quantitative mathematical modelling and programming, and of social research methodologies including questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, teaching and facilitation. Philip has a mathematics and management engineering degree, having specialised in probability, statistics and operational research. He is an environmental psychologist, an experienced participation practitioner, a qualified teacher and a trained facilitator. Philip’s experience of applications include construction (he has commercial experience in quantity surveying), waste management, non-ferrous metals, composites, electricity, paper, biomass and bioenergy; his experience of the application of specific method processes encompasses Life Cycle Assessment, Multi-Criterion Decision Analysis, Materials Flow Analysis, Substance Flow Analysis, Input-Output Analysis, Multi-objective optimisation and intelligent computer-aided design.

Teaching:

• Director, CES course, 'Managing Materials Cycles', May 2005.
• A range of invited internal and external lectures on risk communication, public participation in environmental decision-making, household consumption modelling and operational modelling.

Selected Publication/Conference Presentations:

• Sinclair, P., Cowell, S., Löfstedt, R. and Clift, R. (2007) A case study in participatory environmental systems assessment with the use of multimedia materials and quantitative LCA. Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management, December.
• Druckman, A., Sinclair, P. and Jackson, T. (2007). A geographically and socio-economically disaggregated local household consumption model for the UK. Journal of Cleaner Production, in press.
• Elghali, L., Clift, R., Sinclair, P., Panoutsou, C. and Bauen, A. (2007). Developing a Sustainability Framework for the Assessment of Bioenergy Systems. Energy Policy, in press.
• Sinclair, P. and Stevens, G. C. (2006) A decision-support tool for the design and planning of operations of Civic Amenity Sites. Seventeenth Annual Conference of the Production and Operations Management Society, 28 April-1 May, Boston, USA.
• Bradley, P., Druckman, A., Papathanasopoulou, E., Sinclair, P. and Jackson, T. (2006). Attributing waste to household functional use - a pilot framework and case application for the UK. ISEE conference, Delhi, India. 16-18 December 2006.
• Clift, R., Sinclair, P. and Johnsson, F. (2006). The Importance of Buildings in Energy Policy. Parliamentary Monitor.
• Sinclair, P. (2005) Trends in delivered energy consumption and associated life cycle Carbon emissions. House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology Second Report (Energy Efficiency), Appendix 4, July.
• Sinclair, P., Papathanasopoulou, E., Mellor, W. & Jackson, T. (2005) Towards an Integrated Regional Materials Flow Accounting Model. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 9 (1-2): 69-84, at http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=5&tid=1704.
• van der Horst, D., and Sinclair, P. (2005) Big hitter in chicken litter? The state of biomass energy in the UK. In Columbus, F (2005) Progress in Biomass and Bioenergy Research. Nova Science, New York.
• Sinclair, P. and Löfstedt, R. (2001) The influence of trust in a biomass plant application: the case study of Sutton, UK. Biomass and Bioenergy, 21: 177-184.

Contact Details

Email	p.sinclair@surrey.ac.uk
Telephone	+44 (0)1483 689067
Fax	+44 (0)1483 686671
Postal Address	Centre for Environmental Strategy Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences University of Surrey (D3) GU2 7XH United Kingdom