Dr Jack Barrie

Dr Jack Barrie is a Senior Research Fellow with the Environment and Society Centre at Chatham House. He has expertise on the circular economy – specializing in circular legislation, trade, finance and national roadmaps, as well as sectoral experience in plastics, textiles and critical raw materials. He also has expertise on systems thinking, innovation and environmental transitions.

In his current role at Chatham House, Jack leads on pioneering research examining the intersections between the circular economy and international trade, geopolitics, finance (including Green Taxonomies) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He works on a range of different global projects such as the European Commissions’ flagship circular economy project - SWITCH to Circular Value Chains. As a result of his research, he regularly advises high-ranking public-sector officials, private sector leaders and intergovernmental organizations.

In addition to his work at Chatham House, Jack is an editor of the Circular Economy journal and commonly lectures on the Circular Economy and Sustainability. He is also a Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland Member.

Before joining Chatham House in 2021, Jack held the role of Circular Economy Policy Analyst at Zero Waste Scotland where he developed the research, evidence, analysis and advice on circular economy policy development to support the Scottish Government.

Jack holds a PhD (University of Strathclyde) on circular economy innovation policy, two Master’s degrees in Engineering for Sustainable Development (University of Cambridge) and Civil and Environmental Engineering (University of Edinburgh) as well as a Diploma (Aalborg University) on Theories of Sustainable Transitions. He has worked in an engineering technical capacity on a range of radical sustainable technologies across Europe, Africa and Asia including solar home systems, airborne wind energy systems and desalination plants.