Steven R. Smith

Steve’s research interests intersect the moral, psychosocial, economic and political dimensions of the transition to sustainable prosperity. In addition to his research at the University of Surrey, he is part of the State of Tipping Points working group based at the Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter. This working group is producing the first State of Tipping Points Report to be launched at the COP 28 Conference, December 2023. Linked to this, Steve is on the editorial team of a special issue of Earth System Dynamics journal.

Steve’s PhD at the University of Surrey, supervised by Ian Christie, Alex Penn and Birgitta Gatersleben, addressed knowledge gaps in the field of climate politics and policy advocacy in the UK. He developed a typology and method for mapping the UK ‘ecosystem’ of actors, qualitatively analysed 100 expert views on the transition to net zero carbon, and argued for a more radical, science- and equity-based ‘rapid transition’ to net zero by 2035 at the latest.

Steve has authored a variety of peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, policy papers, articles and blogs. He was expert reviewer to the UN IPCC’s Second-Order Draft of Working Group III Sixth Assessment Report (AR6-WG3), and to the Swiss National Science Foundation.