Professor Michael Depledge
Professor Depledge was the founding Director and is currently Chair of the Board of the European Centre for Environment and Human Health. He has a background in environmental and medical toxicology and has produced more than 350 peer-review scientific papers in leading international journals and books. He has been an expert advisor to the United Nations and World Health Organisation since the early 1990s running several research programmes in Brazil, China, Vietnam and elsewhere. Formerly, he was the Chief Scientist of the Environment Agency of England and Wales and served as a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. He is also the former Chairman of the Science Advisory Group on Environment and Climate Change of the European Commission. He has held several honorary professorships at leading universities including Harvard (USA), Imperial College, London, Oxford University and University College, London. He is currently a member of the UK Governments Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee.
His research interests include the impact of climate change on health and wellbeing, the effects of chemical body burdens on human health and the environment, and finding ways of communicating scientific information to policymakers and politicians.