Professor Ian Williams

Ian is passionate about inspiring students and mentoring graduates to actively learn more about sustainability and our environment by developing their practical, research, communication and problem-solving capabilities, and to develop employability skills that will help them thrive at university and throughout their careers. This is where his pedagogical approach is wholly positioned. Ian’s student support does not stop at the point of graduation. In over 30 years of teaching activity, he has helped countless graduates find and build successful careers. His greatest achievement in teaching has been an experiential approach to education which has resulted in making a meaningful difference to the lives of our students and to wider society.

He has an established an international reputation for excellence in teaching and learning. Ian’s philosophy is based on the use of active and inter-generational learning and partnership working to ensure students are experientially involved in their own learning process. To encourage student participation, he has focused on:

A) creating high quality resources to stimulate students’ learning and critical thinking skills (problem-solving, decision-making, analysis, synthesis, evaluation);

B) developing methods to stimulate students’ curiosity, and;

C) encouraging students to partner with local authorities, business, industry and other young people to cultivate their professional and employability skills.

He is Module Lead for modules in Water Pollution, Air Quality and Environmental Pollution and Sustainable Resource Management.

Ian obtained his first degree in Chemistry from the University of Surrey in 1988 and a PhD in Public Attitudes to Air Pollution from Road Traffic from Middlesex University in 1995. He has been a lecturer at Middlesex University (1989-2000), the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan, 2000-2004) and the University of Southampton (UoS, 2005-present). He was the founder and Head of the Centre for Waste Management at the UCLan. He has appeared numerous times on broadcast media, including on BBC Radio 4’s Costing the Earth.

Ian has received a number of awards for his activities, including: the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s Campus Sustainability Research Award 2018, the International Solid Waste Association Publication Award in 2016 and 2017, the Institution of Civil Engineers Baker Medal in 2010 and awards from the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management (Waste Regulation Award 2010, 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15; James Jackson Award 2006, 2015/16, 2016/17; J.C. Dawes Award 2016). He is a fanatical fan of "the Scarlets" rugby team.