Eric Neumayer is a distinguished academic leader and internationally recognized scholar in environmental economics and sustainable development at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He currently serves as Deputy President and Vice Chancellor as well as Vice President for Planning and Resources at LSE, having previously held the position of Interim President and Vice Chancellor from June 2023 to March 2024. Neumayer joined LSE in 1998 and has held various leadership roles including Head of the Department of Geography & Environment from 2009 to 2013 and Vice President for Faculty Development starting in 2016. An economist by training, he earned his Diplom in Economics from Saarland University and completed both his MSc and PhD in Development Studies at LSE. His extensive administrative experience spans strategic planning, resource allocation, and academic leadership across multiple institutional contexts.
Neumayer is a prolific scholar with over 150 publications and more than 26,000 citations as of 2020, reflecting his significant impact on the field of environmental economics. His seminal work Weak versus Strong Sustainability: Exploring the Limits of Two Opposing Paradigms has gone through five revised editions and is widely acclaimed as a foundational text in sustainability discourse. His research employs rigorous quantitative methods to analyze complex relationships between economic development, environmental protection, and social welfare across multiple domains including climate policy, migration patterns, and natural disaster mitigation. Neumayer's innovative studies on the impact of environmental regulation on international technology transfer have reshaped understanding of how regulatory frameworks influence global innovation diffusion. His methodological contributions to measuring environmental commitment and performance have provided critical tools for evidence-based policy formulation worldwide.
Beyond his scholarly contributions, Neumayer has played a pivotal role in shaping institutional strategy and academic excellence at one of the world's leading social science institutions. During his tenure as Interim President, he successfully navigated the institution through a period of leadership transition and announced a significant financial rewards package for staff worth £110 million over seven years. He serves as an Associate of the Center for the Study of Civil War at the Peace Research Institute Oslo, extending his influence beyond LSE to global policy discussions. Neumayer's leadership extends to mentoring future scholars and contributing to high-level advisory roles that bridge academic research and practical policy implementation. As a leading voice in environmental economics, he continues to influence critical discourse on sustainable development pathways and climate change adaptation strategies for the twenty-first century.
