Dr Christopher Lee

About me:

I’m an environmental physicist and climate scientist, working on landscape dynamics and design.

I’m based at LEEP; and work in Defra’s Environmental Land Management Data Science and Modelling and Land Use teams, translating academic research into evidence and tools to inform agri-environment policy design.

Current Research: My research investigates the relationships and dynamics of landscape scale land use and the effects of climate change and natural hazards. It examines both the potential impact of environmental change on land use and management; and the feasibility of mitigating natural hazards with strategic land use, particularly at the landscape scale.

Background: My background is an unusual combination of both geophysical measurement and modelling, and rural land and business management! I gained my PhD in atmospheric sciences from the University of Manchester in 2011, before a post at the University of Reading, focusing on the predictability of severe winter weather events. Before joining LEEP I worked in the private sector, managing rural estates and business, and consulting on environmental land management and valuation. I qualified as an agricultural valuer in 2017.

My research interests span the physical and social sciences of strategic land use and climate science, focusing on the practical application of academic approaches to landscape-scale land use design and decision making:

• Land Use Change Design – Integrated assessment modelling of land use change policy development and design; including quantification and modelling of ecosystem services benefits arising from agricultural land use change, and the associated costs and trade-offs of scheme designs.
• Land Use Dynamics – Understanding and modelling land use changes, including how land ownership, tenure, local trends, and environmental factors impact farm business decisions. The extension of physical models of environmental processes to incorporate social factors in land use decision making.
• Landscape Decision Making – Dealing with uncertainty and risk in land use modelling and decision making. Strategic land use policy design and development with land managers and policymakers.