environment and development; environmental values; water governance; ecological economics; political ecology

Christopher Schulz is an interdisciplinary researcher with interests in environment and development, environmental values, and water governance.

Previous and ongoing research has focused on understanding conflicts about water in the Brazilian Pantanal wetland, the values and governance of tropical peatlands in the Peruvian Amazon and the Congo Basin, and the global history of large dams, among others.

At St Andrews, his primary focus in research and teaching is on critical economic dimensions of sustainability, in particular:

1. Critical perspectives on economic instruments for environmental management and sustainability transitions
2. Methodological options for valuing the environment, especially non-monetary approaches to valuation
3. Conceptual and practical alternatives to mainstream economic approaches, including those grounded in indigenous knowledge.

Most of his research has been in Latin America (Brazil, Peru, Chile), but he also has fieldwork experience in South Asia (Nepal, India) and Africa (Kenya, Congo, Ghana, South Africa). Besides English, he is fluent in Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and German.

Christopher Schulz joined the School of Geography and Sustainable Development at St Andrews as Lecturer in Sustainable Development (Critical Economic Dimensions of Sustainability). He was previously a Lecturer in the MSc programme in Ecological Economics at SRUC/Edinburgh University, a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, and a Research Fellow at St Andrews. He holds a PhD and MSc in Environment and Development from the University of Edinburgh, and a BA in Politics and Public Administration from the University of Konstanz.

Undergraduate - BSc/MA (Hons) Geography

• GG3205 - Developing a Geography Research Proposal (supervisor)
• GG4399 - Research Dissertation in Geography (supervisor)

Undergraduate - BSc/MA (Hons) Sustainable Development

• SD1004 - Sustainable Development Goals: Challenges & Opportunities (contributor/tutor)
• SD3101 - Developing a Sustainable Development Research Proposal (supervisor)
• SD3103 - Field Course for Sustainable Development - East Africa (module co-coordinator)
• SD4120 - Valuing Environments (module coordinator)
• SD4297 - Dissertation in Sustainable Development (supervisor)

Postgraduate Taught (PGT) - MSc Sustainable Development

• GD5802 - Sustainable Development: From Principles to Practice (module coordinator/contributor)
• GD5998 - Policy Report (supervisor)
• GD5999 - Dissertation (supervisor)

Postgraduate Research (PGR) - PhD, Geography/Sustainable Development

• Mengqi Peng: 'When home does not feel like home: Investigating ethnic minorities’ environmental distress and ontological anxiety induced by small hydropower developments on the Nu River, China' (principal supervisor)
• Kirishanthan Punniyarajah: 'Rights of Nature: The legal geographies and political ecologies of intermittent rivers in Sri Lanka' (principal supervisor)
• John Mwangi Wangui (†): 'The political ecology of water in the Ewaso Ng’iro North River Basin, Kenya' (principal supervisor at St Andrews, co-tutelle with University of Bonn), 2023-2025.
• Eduardo Fagundes Mendes: 'Dimensões humanas da restauração ecológica no Brasil: Percepções, motivações e ecoansiedade' [Human dimensions of ecological restoration in Brazil: Perceptions, motivations and ecoanxiety] (external co-supervisor, with UNEMAT, Cáceres, Brazil)

Administration and Service

• Deputy Director of Postgraduate Studies (Research), School of Geography and Sustainable Development
• Steering Committee, Centre for Amerindian, Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CAS)
• Advisor of Studies (Honours), Geography and Sustainable Development

Christopher Schulz holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP) from the University of St Andrews and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).