The International Relations Office is delighted to announce the appointment of another new Global Chair, who will contribute world-class knowledge and experience to the University of Bath from the start of the 2025/26 academic year for a two-year period, alongside Professor Kaushik Basu.
As Global Chairs, these distinguished scholars will engage in prominent research projects and cultivate strategic international partnerships, enhancing Bath’s global reach and influence. Leaders in their respective fields, the research of both newly appointed Global Chairs strongly aligns with the University’s strategic research pillars of Sustainability and Health & Wellbeing.
Professor Benjamin Cashore
National University of Singapore
Professor of Public Management at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Director of the Institute for Environment & Sustainability (IES) at NUS' Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Professor Benjamin Cashore is a globally-recognised scholar in the field of environmental governance and public policy. Renowned for his pioneering research on multi-level governance and the legitimacy of non-state market-driven (NSMD) global governance, Professor Cashore’s work has transformed understanding of how public and private actors collaborate to address complex environmental challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainable forest management.
A defining feature of Professor Cashore’s research is his ability to bridge conceptual theory with actionable policy solutions. Through his leadership in designing and facilitating collaborative, multi-stakeholder policy processes, Professor Cashore has illuminated new pathways for tackling “super wicked” problems—environmental challenges marked by their urgency, complexity, and resistance to conventional remedies.
Professor Cashore will be hosted by Dr Yixian Sun in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences and a member of both the Institute of Sustainability and Climate Change (ISCC) and the Centre for Development Studies. Also hosting Professor Cashore will be Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh, Co-Director for the ISCC, Professor Andrew Crane, Director for the Centre for Business, Organisation and Society, and Professor Emma Carmel, Associate Dean (Research) for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. On Professor Cashore’s appointment as Global Chair, Professor Sun said:
Professor Cashore’s scholarly contributions are hard to overstate. His scholarship on the environment contributes to multiple fields of study, including international relations, comparative politics, public policy, public administration, and business and management studies. His work on ‘non-state market-driven governance’, ‘super-wicked problem’ and ‘thermostatic institutions’ have reached far and wide to inform decisionmakers across continents and in the public and private sectors, while inspiring and nurturing several generations of scholars working on global environmental governance. I am thrilled to host Professor Cashore as Global Chair in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences and believe this appointment will bring many new collaboration opportunities across the university. At Bath, Professor Cashore will develop new research projects on global climate and forest governance, which can advise policy-making at national and global levels. He will also provide mentoring to early-career researchers and enhance our research culture in the area of sustainability.
On the appointments of the University’s new Global Chairs, Professor Sarah Hainsworth, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research & Enterprise), and Professor Manuel Barcia, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement), commented:
By joining Bath as Global Chairs, these distinguished scholars will help shape research with real-world impact, forging new partnerships and elevating our University’s global standing. Their appointments highlight Bath’s commitment to excellence and will play a vital role in advancing the Global Voice & Reputation Project.