Collaboration, charismatic leadership, political will and resources are all vital if environmental policy is to be successful, says a new Lancaster professor who specialises in environmental management.

‘Producing world class science doesn’t solve complex and wicked problems in itself, there is a whole social, political and governmental aspect which is just as important as the science,’ says Professor Nigel Watson, from the Lancaster Environment Centre, who has spent his career investigating and trying to improve how environmental problems and challenges are implemented on the ground.

Nigel, an environmental social scientist, sees his recent promotion to professor as a recognition of the value of applied research and his contributions to teaching and student life on campus.

Nigel was most interested in physical geography when he studied geography as an undergraduate. But a course on Canadian resource management fired his interest in human-ecological relations and changed the direction of his career. He got a scholarship to do an MA in natural resources management at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

'It was pivotal point for me. It was fabulous, socially, culturally, academically. I was surrounded by the Great Lakes, where there were lots of environmental problems at that time, with transnational issues between the Canada and the US. Lake Eyrie was dying because of nutrient pollution and acid rain was a big issue.’

Nigel stayed in Canada to do a PhD on institutional responses to nitrate pollution in surface waters.

‘While it was a physical problem, I was looking at how governments in North America and Europe were responding in policy terms to what was then a new issue. The EU Nitrates Directive had been developed and I looked at what governments were doing to implement or avoid that requirement.

‘You can have really strong policy but if it is not implemented well, if you don’t have the political will and resources behind it, you can run in to obstacles and are confronted with avoidance tactics, and you don’t get the expected results. In order to get effective environmental protection, we need to understand policy implementation processes and what works and what doesn’t in terms of management.’

After finishing his PhD, Nigel returned to the UK to work at the University of Brighton. Four years later, in 1998, he joined Lancaster University, attracted by the research opportunities it offered.

He became interested in the governance of water catchments, a developing area of policy, with the EU Water Framework Directive being introduced and water privatisation bedding in in England and Wales.

‘It gave me the opportunity to think about and write about how a catchment-based approach could be used and what it would look like. The UK government picked up on that idea at same time, so policy makers were trying to figure out the same questions as I had been addressing for some years.’

He started getting involved in applied research projects around catchment management and managing flood risk, including natural flood management, working with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Environment Agency (EA). He focussed on exploring how different levels of Government and bureaucracy could work better together. He began to write about what was needed to successfully implement catchment policy.

‘When I have observed these schemes, often the most successful catchment examples seem to have a visionary, charismatic leader, often not someone only associated with one organisation but really good boundary spanners who are excellent at bringing people together from different organisations.

‘You have also got to get some early wins, make a tangible difference at an early stage. Collaboration is a long and arduous process: you don’t solve really complex problems overnight. People can get frustrated with the time and effort involved and there’s always a risk people will walk away because think the effort isn’t worth the benefits.’

Nigel also saw that ambitious policy often failed during implementation because ‘there wasn’t the necessary infrastructure or political will to make them happen.’

He became chair of the River Ribble Catchment Management Partnership, a post he has held for the past decade, applying what he had learned elsewhere. Recently he’s contributed to Defra’s 25-year environment plan, advising on institutional arrangements and how a more joined up collaborative approach could strengthen the relationship between different groups and make the plan more effective.

He’s continued working with European researchers on the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive, looking at why many member states have struggled to do what it requires.

As well as continuing his practical work, Nigel has recently been focussing more on theoretical work: using his practical experience to develop inter-organisation collaboration theory about what makes successful collaborations.

‘It comes down to power relations between the different groups. If one organisation has a lot of political and financial power and another organisation doesn’t, collaboration is unlikely to work unless the powerful organisation gives up some of its power to others. It’s about being sensitive to differences and what everyone brings to the decision-making table.’

As well as his research and policy work, Nigel spends much of his time working with students. He teaches a post graduate module on Environmental Management & Governance, and an undergraduate module on Eco-innovation, where students get practical experience in learning how to collaborate with each other. He also supports students in the College Sustainability Challenge.

'When you get a group of students together, they go through exactly the same process as organisations do when they realise that to get things done, they need to work well with each other. They can use the same principles that work with organisations. It’s been fascinating to observe and implement.’

Nigel is also Principal of Pendle College – one of the colleges that students belong to – and leads the group of nine college principals. This has kept him very busy during the Covid 19 pandemic.

‘Since March we have been supporting 1800 students still living on campus. When colleagues were on annual leave, we were running an office where students could go to talk to someone in confidence. And more recently we planned for the arrival of students back on campus including the welcome week programme.’

Last year ago Nigel changed his university contract to a new type of contract focused on teaching and engagement that better reflects the kind of work he is doing.

Nigel sees his promotion to Professor as a welcome recognition that academic careers can take many different forms and are not just about getting a set number of five-star papers.

‘It's a great acknowledgement, particularly as I haven’t ploughed the standard academic route. It shows you can get recognition for doing a much wider range of things that have value and impact.’