Michael Thompson
Guest Emeritus Research Scholar
Equity and Justice Research Group
Population and Just Societies Program
Biography
Originally a professional soldier, Michael Thompson studied anthropology (first degree and PhD at University College London, B.Litt at Oxford) whi9le also following a career as a Himalayan Mountaineer. (Annapurna South Face 1970, Everest Southwest Face 1975). His early research on how something second-hand becomes an antique (Rubbish Theory, 1979, Oxford University Press) led to work on the "energy tribes" (in various western think tanks), on risk, on Himalayan deforestation and sustainable development, on household product development (in Unilever), on global climate change, on technology and development, and on what might be called "the even newer Institutionalism" (e.g., Cultural Theory, co-authored with Richard Ellis and Aaron Wildvasky, 1990, West View).Dr. Thompson is a Fellow at the James Marin Institute for Science and Civilization, University of Oxford and a Senior Researcher at the Stein Rokkan Centre for Social Research, University of Bergen, Norway. At IIASA he is affiliated with the Risk and Resilience (RISK) Program.
Last update: 02 MAY 2016
Publications
Thompson, M. (2017). The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round: Innovation Cycles in Technological Evolution. In: Ecologies of Innovation. Eds. Winiwarter, V., pp. 9-19 Vienna, Austria: Commission for Interdisciplinary Ecological Studies (KIOES), Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW). 10.1553/KIOESOP_006.
Gyawali, D., Thompson, M., & Verweij, M. (2016). Afterword: The lessons from Nepal. In: Aid, Technology and Development The Lessons from Nepal. Eds. Gyawali, D., Thompson, M., & Verweij, M., pp. 218-221 Abingdon, United Kingdom: Taylor and Francis. ISBN 9781315621630 10.4324/9781315621630.
Thompson, M., Gyawali, D., & Verweij, M. (2016). The dharma of development. In: Aid, Technology and Development. Eds. Gyawali, D., Thompson, M., & Verweij, M., pp. 3-12 Abingdon, United Kingdom: Taylor and Francis. ISBN 978-113865691-8 10.4324/9781315621630.
Yazdanpanah, M., Thompson, M., & Linnerooth-Bayer, J. (2016). Do Iranian Policy Makers Truly Understand And Dealing with the Risk of Climate Change RegardingWater Resource Management? In: IDRiM 2016 7th International Conference on Integrated Disaster Risk Management Disasters and Development: Towards a Risk Aware Society, October 1-3, 2016, Isfahan, Islamic Republic of Iran.
Linnerooth-Bayer, J., Scolobig, A., Ferlisi, S., Cascini, L., & Thompson, M. (2016). Expert engagement in participatory processes: translating stakeholder discourses into policy options. Natural Hazards 81 (S1) 69-88. 10.1007/s11069-015-1805-8.