Matt Hare

I am a Senior Researcher working in the Information and Computational Sciences Department. 

The foci of my work 

• socio-ecological modelling         - policy assessment 
• novel approaches to Agent-Based Modelling and Simulation in complex systems
• participatory systems modelling 
• project management

Application areas 

• ecosystems restoration (peatland, forestry)    - land-based carbon accounting
• assessment of the efficacy of market-based solutions (carbon and biodiversity offsetting)
• community engagement processes towards climate change adaptation    -  local food systems.

Current projects

• RESAS D4-4 Habitat Management and Restoration
  • WP1 – Mapping the flows of multiple benefits and risks associated with
    forest/woodland habitat restoration of different qualities
• RESAS C5 Integrated socio-environmental modelling of policy scenarios for Scotland
  • WP5 - Mediated modelling for rapid-response policy requests

My interdisciplinary background

• Artificial Intelligence and Agent-Based Simulation,
• Complex systems,
• Socio-Ecological Modelling,
• Climate Change (Disaster Risk Reduction, Community and Ecosystems-Based Adaptation),
• participatory systems modelling,
• land-based carbon accounting,
• adaptive water management,
• environment management, and
• international development. 

Career path

I have worked here before. From 1994 – 1998, at what was then called the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, I did my PhD on the use of Artificial Intelligence and Agent-Based Simulation approaches in the modelling of Red Grouse populations and their management. Before that, I gained my bachelor degree in Artifcial Intelligence and Computing at Sussex University which saw me building my first Agent-Based Model around about 1990.

My post-doc was took place at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG-ETH), using participatory (agent-based) modelling techniques to support decision-makers to develop strategies for sustainably managing urban water supplies. 

Following this, I moved to Germany to co-found a start-up enterprise, Seeconsult GmbH, which provided consultancy, research and training support to organizations interested in implementing participatory water resources management in different river basins across Europe, as part of Article 14 obligations of the EU Water Framework Directive. During this time, I worked with stakeholders in river basins across Europe from Scotland in the west to Bulgaria in the East.

In 2008, I took up a job as Senior Programme Officer at the capacity development wing (UNW-DPC) of the UN-Water Decade Programme based at the United Nations in Bonn, Germany. This was to support the implementation of UN capacity development activities seeking to promote, among other things, climate-related adaptive water resources management in developing countries. 

After this, from 2010 to 2017, I lived and worked in Mexico, providing aimed at the implementation and evaluation of Community- and Ecosystems-Based Climate Change Adaptation Planning projects. I have worked on contract for the Mexican Government and with communities across Mexico. 

Between 2011 and 2013, I also coordinated the EU FP7 CATALYST project (grant no. 283177) entitled “Capacity Development for Hazard Risk Reduction and Adaptation”.

I returned to the James Hutton Institute in 2017 where, until 2020, I held the post of Macaulay Development Trust Research Fellow in Socio-Ecological Systems Modelling.