Professor Nicola Beaumont

Professor Nicola Beaumont

Head of Science - Sea and Society

nijb2024-10-10@pml.ac.uk    |     +44 (0)1752 633100 (switchboard)

Professor Nicola Beaumont leads the Sea and Society team at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory and is an internationally established expert in the assessment and valuation of biodiversity, ecosystem services and natural capital. She has honorary professorships at the School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, and the College of Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter. Her research spans scales from local to global, and a variety of environmental challenges, including: renewable energy, plastics, nitrogen pollution, flood and erosion management, climate change, ocean acidification, and marine planning and policy. Nicola has published more than 80 peer reviewed publications, and is an editor for the Journals of Environmental Economics and Policy, and Coastal Futures. Nicola has also published 20 plus influential reports, including for the UK Cabinet Office, the European Marine Board, Defra, and the Crown Estate. She has evidenced impact in the international policy sphere, and has contributed to a number of high level reports, including acting as the lead economist for marine and coastal margins for the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) and The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review.

Nicola has extensive project management experience and as lead investigator, she has secured and managed >£5 million of research funding, including leading three large (£1 million+) multi-institute collaborative projects, and including co-investigator roles, she has contributed to over 50 research projects. She has a particular interest in interdisciplinary research, and has written numerous guides and spoken extensively on this topic, providing both leadership and training in this area.

Nicola is skilled in research communication including working with academics, policy makers, managers and varied research user groups. She embraces outreach and media, including festival related STEM activities, YouTube, and interviews with radio, newspaper and television. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is of paramount importance to Nicola and she is experienced in the development and implementation of EDI strategies. As a senior academic Nicola draws on her people management skills to support and guide numerous teams, colleagues, and students, including formal and informal mentoring.

Key Projects

Selected Publications

Abate, TG; Börger, T; Aanesen, M; Falk-Andersson, J; Wyles, KJ; Beaumont, NC. 2020. Valuation of marine plastic pollution in the European Arctic: Applying an integrated choice and latent variable model to contingent valuation. Ecological Economics.

Beaumont, N. (editor), 2020 Demystifying Interdisciplinary Working (in Valuing Nature) Valuing Nature Paper VNP25. https://valuing-nature.net/demystifying-interdisciplinary-working

Beaumont, NJ; Aanesen, M; Austen, MC; Börger, T; Clark, JR; Cole, M; Hooper, T; Lindeque, PK; Pascoe, C; Wyles, KJ. 2019. Global ecological, social and economic impacts of marine plastic. Marine Pollution Bulletin.

Beaumont, NJ; Austen, MC; Atkins, J; Burdon, D; Degraer, S; Dentinho, TP; Derous, S; Holm, P; Horton, T; van Ierland, E; Marboe, AH; Starkey, DJ; Townsend, M; Zarzycki, T. 2007. Identification, definition and quantification of goods and services provided by marine biodiversity: implications for the ecosystem approach. Marine Pollution Bulletin.

Botterell, ZLR; Beaumont, NC; Dorrington, T; Steinke, M; Thompson, RC; Lindeque, PK. 2019. Bioavailability and effects of microplastics on marine zooplankton: A review. Environmental Pollution, doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.10.065

Hooper, T; Börger, T; Langmead, O; Marcone, O; Rees, SE; Réndon, O; Beaumont, NC. 2019. Applying the natural capital approach to decision making for the marine environment. Ecosystem Services.

Hooper, TL, Hattam, C, Edwards-Jones, A and Beaumont, NJ 2020 Public perceptions of tidal energy: Can you predict social acceptability across coastal communities in England? Marine Policy, 119. 104057.

Macreadie, PI; Anton, A; Raven, JA; Beaumont, NC; et al. 2019. The future of Blue Carbon science. Nature Communications.

McKinley, E, Pagès, JF, Ballinger, RC and Beaumont, NJ. 2020 Forgotten landscapes: Public attitudes and perceptions of coastal saltmarshes. Ocean & Coastal Management, 187. 105117.

Omeyer, LCM; Duncan, EM; Aiemsomboon, K; Beaumont, NJ; et al. 2022. Priorities to inform research on marine plastic pollution in Southeast Asia. Science of The Total Environment.

Rendón, OR; Garbutt, A; Skov, M; Möller, I; Alexander, M; Ballinger, R; Wyles, K; Smith, G; McKinley, E; Griffin, J; Thomas, M; Davidson, K; Pagès, JF; Read, S; Beaumont, NC. 2019. A framework linking ecosystem services and human well‐being: Saltmarsh as a case study. People and Nature.

Tinch, R; Beaumont, NC; et al. 2019. Economic valuation of ecosystem goods and services: a review for decision makers. Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy.

Watson, SCL; Somerfield, PJ; Lemasson, AJ; Knights, AM; Edwards-Jones, A; Nunes, J; Pascoe, CK; McNeill, CL; Schratzberger, M; Thompson, MSA; Couce, E; Szostek, CL; Baxter, H; Beaumont, NJ; 2024. The global impact of offshore wind farms on ecosystem services. Ocean & Coastal Management.

Watson, SCL, Watson, GJ, Beaumont, NJ and Preston, J 2022 Inclusion of condition in natural capital assessments is critical to the implementation of marine nature-based solutions. Science of The Total Environment, 838. 156026.

Worm B; Barbier, EB; Beaumont, NJ; Duffy, JE; Folke, C; Halpern, BS; Jackson, JBC; Lotze, HK; Micheli, F; Palumbi, SR; Sala, E; Selkoe, KA; Stachowicz, JJ; Watson R. 2006. Impacts of biodiversity loss on ocean ecosystem services. Science.