People > Professor Nicola Beaumont

Professor Nicola Beaumont

Head of Science - Sea and Society



Contact Details

+44 (0)1752 633100 (switchboard)

nijb22/10/2020 02:00:26@pml.ac.uk

Professor Nicola Beaumont has more than 20 years’ experience working at the interface between natural sciences and socio-economics, including extensive project and people management experience. Nicola specialises in the quantification and valuation of marine and coastal ecosystem services, and translating complex natural science into terms which are meaningful in a social and economic context.

She has experience across a variety of scales from local county councils to European and Global levels, and to a variety of marine management issues, including: renewable energy, ocean acidification, and marine planning and policy.

Nicola has an extensive publication record, including peer reviewed literature, policy reports, book chapters and popular science articles. She was co-author on the most highly cited marine ecosystem services paper (Worm et al. 2006 Science 314:787-90) and was the lead economist for marine and coastal margins for the UK National Ecosystem Assessment.

Nicola is currently lead PI on the Valuing Nature Partnership funded study CoastWEB which aims to value the contribution which Coastal habitats make to human health and WEllBeing, in addition to acting as PI on MARP3 (MARine Plastic Pollution in the Arctic: origin, status, costs and incentives for prevention) and ADVENT (ADdressing Valuation of Energy and Nature Together).

Other recent projects as PI include the EU funded ValMer project (Valuing ecosystem Services in the Western Channel), and the EU funded PERSEUS project (Policy-oriented marine Environmental Research in the Southern EUropean Seas). She sits on several international and national committees, including leading the Marine Biome Expert Group for the International Ecosystem Services Partnership, and acting as a member of the UK Productive Seas Evidence Group (PSEG) which reports directly to UK government.

 

Other key projects

National Ecosystem Assessment. Lead economist for marine and coastal margins. 2011

Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning (MarBEF). An EU funded  network of excellence with the aim of integrating and disseminating knowledge and expertise on marine biodiversity, with links to researchers, industry, stakeholders and the general public. Lead role within the socio-economic theme. 2004 – 2009.

Marine Protected Areas as tools for Fisheries management and conservation (EMPAFISH). To provide EU with a set of integrated measures and policy proposals for the implementation of MPAs as fisheries and ecosystem management tools. 2005 - 2008

Selected key publications

Bateman, I.J., D. Abson, N. Beaumont, A. Darnell, C. Fezzi, N. Hanley, A. Kontoleon, D. Maddison, P. Morling, J. Morris, S. Mourato, U. Pascual, G. Perino, A. Sen,  D. Tinch, K. Turner and G. Valatin (2011) Economic Values from Ecosystems. Chapter 22 . In: The UK National Ecosystem Assessment Technical Report. UK National Ecosystem Assessment, UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge.

   

Beaumont N.J., M.C. Austen, S.C. Mangi, M. Townsend. Economic valuation for the conservation of marine biodiversity. Marine Pollution Bulletin 56 (2008) 386–396

   

Beaumont N.J., M.C. Austen, J. Atkins, D. Burdon, S. Degraer, T.P. Dentinho, S. Derous, P. Holm, T. Horton, E. van Ierland, A. H. Marboe, D.J. Starkey, M. Townsend, T. Zarzycki. Identification, Definition and Quantification of Goods and Services provided by Marine Biodiversity: Implications for the Ecosystem Approach. Marine Pollution Bulletin 54 (2007) 253-265

   

Worm B., E. B. Barbier, Beaumont N.J, J. E. Duffy, C. Folke, B. S. Halpern, J. B.C. Jackson, H. K. Lotze, F. Micheli, S. R. Palumbi, E. Sala, K. A. Selkoe, J. J. Stachowicz, R.Watson (2006). Impact of Biodiversity loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services. Science, 314, 787 : 790 3rd November 2006.

Other activities

Ecosystem Service Partnership. Marine Biome Expert Group Lead

Member of Marine Renewable Energy Knowledge Exchange NERC advisory council

Member of SPLICE (Sustainable Pathways for Low Carbon Energy Research Programme)

Member of Productive Seas Evidence Group (PSEG), this group aims to ensure that appropriate monitoring programmes are in place to produce periodic assessments to identify the nature and influences that human activities have on the socio-economic uses of the marine environment