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. His current research corresponds closely with Bath’s strategic research pillar of Sustainability, centring on the development of “Thermostatic Institutions,” innovative governance frameworks aimed at advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with a strong emphasis on climate action and biodiversity conservation.

A recipient of several major honours, Professor Cashore was most recently awarded the 2025 Distinguished Scholar Award from the International Studies Association’s Environmental Studies Section for his outstanding contributions to environmental scholarship. He was also recognized in a 2021 Stanford University study published in PLOS Biology as ranking in the top 1% of scientists worldwide by citations. Additionally, he co-won the 2023 Ken Young Prize for the best article in Policy and Politics (alongside Sebastian Sewerin and Michael Howlett), and in 2014 received the International Union of Forest Research Organization’s Scientific Achievement Award for his impact on global environmental governance and policy.

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, Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations Director, 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.

Proposed Activities at Bath

• Delivering a public lecture
• ECR workshop focused on sustainability governance
• Meetings with researchers from the Institute of Sustainability and Climate Change (ISCC), Centre for Development Studies (CDS) and Centre for Business, Organisations and Society (CBOS)
• Engaging with UK policymakers
• Outreach activities in London to engage with UK government, key think tanks, NGOs in sustainability, and prospective philanthropic funders
• Giving a lecture as part of a training course for early-career researchers at the Earth System Governance Annual Conference
• Presentation of several papers and co-sponsorship of a session on sustainability transition in Southeast Asia at the Earth System Governance Annual Conference