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Practice Profile 

Originally an ecologist, Bill has worked, lectured and published widely on environmental assessment and policy for some 27 years. He has worked as a practicing ecologist, in consultancy, academia and in the voluntary sector.  Most of his professional career has been spent working in interdisciplinarity. He splits his time evenly between academia (Imperial College London, where he is Reader in Environmental Assessment) and consultancy (Collingwood Environmental Planning, where he is Technical Director).  His experience lies in the development and application of environmental policy and legislation (especially EIA/SEA/SA in the European Union), assessment procedures, methodologies, and public and NGO participation.  He holds a PhD (on the basis of published work) on Accountability in Environmental Assessment Law, Policy and Practice in the EU.  He has been an expert advisor to the EU, the European Environment Agency, the UK, Irish and Uruguay governments, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and the National Trust; was a board member of Transport 2000 and a long-standing member of the Environment Agency (and formerly National Rivers Authority) Thames Regional Committees; and has been involved in various committees of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA). 

He has managed major studies for the European Commission DG Environment on SEA and Integration of the Environment into Strategic Decision-Making (2000/01); on the relationship between the EIA and SEA Directives (2004/5); and led an international team in the development and application of sustainability assessment of biodiversity management scenarios for declining agricultural areas in upland Europe (EU 5FP, 2002-5).  Recent activities include: research and SEA in Scotland and Wales; research in Ireland on the Water Framework Directive and its relationship with other environmental Directives; research for the European Environment Agency on scenarios, futures studies and megatrends; research for Defra on ecosystem services in the Thames Gateway; and sustainability appraisal for the Greater London Authority on the GLA's Water Strategy and Climate Change Adaptation Strategy.  He is a co-author on the Urban chapter of the forthcoming UK's National Ecosystem Assessment.

Bill has published extensively in the assessment field, and is the author of Making an Impact: A Guide to EIA Law and Policy (1994, 2nd edition1996) published by Cameron May, London.  He was the Founding Editor of the international Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (ICP/WSPC) (from 1998-2009), now firmly established as one of the leading journals in the environmental assessment field.  He is the editor of a recent book - Tools, Techniques and Approaches for Sustainability - published by World Scientific (October 2009).  Bill continues as a member of the JEAPM editorial board and has many years experience of teaching and training at advanced levels, He is an Honorary Senior Fellow in the School of Environment and Development at the University of Manchester.  In May 2008 he gave an invited speech to the ministerial high-level segment of the 4th Meeting of the Parties of the Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, in Bucharest, Romania.

Selected publications

Books

  • SHEATE, W. R. (2009), Tools, Techniques and Approaches for Sustainability: Collected Writings in Environmental Assessment Policy and Management, World Scientific: Singapore, pp 408.(October 2009). ISBN: 9789814289689.
  • SHEATE, W. R. (1996), Environmental Impact Assessment: Law and Policy - Makin an Impact II, London, Cameron May Ltd, ISBN: 9781874698913.
  • SHEATE, W. R. (1994), Making an Impact: A Guide to EIA Law and Policy, London, Cameron May Ltd, ISBN: 9781874698500.

Articles, Reports, Chapters

  • Zhou K andSHEATE, WR (2011) EIA application in China's expressway infrastructure: Clarifying the decision-making hierarchy, Journal of Environmental Management, Vol:92, Pages:1471-1483.
  • Eales RP, and SHEATE, WR (2011), Effectiveness of Policy Level Environmental and Sustainability Asssesssment: Challenges and Lessons from Recent Practice, Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management, Vol:13, Pages:39-65.
  • Zhou K and SHEATE, WR, Case studies: Application of SEA in provincial level expressway infrastructure network planning in China - Current existing problems, Environmental Impact Assessment Review, available online November 2010, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2010.10.005.
  • SHEATE, W.R.,(2011) Linking SEA and Environmental Planning and Management Tools, ln: Handbook of Strategic Environmental Assessment, Editor(s): Sadler, Aschemann, Dusik, Fischer, Partidário, Verheem, London, Earthscan Publication, (in press, January 2011), Pages: 1-704.
  • Phillips, P. and SHEATE, W. R. (2010), A new SEA pathway: Reflecting on Strategic Environmental Assessment in Scotland, The Environmentalist, Vol. 104, 20 September 2010, 19-22, available at www.iema.net.
  • Eales, R and SHEATE, W.R (2010), Opportunities Missed and Challenges to Come? Town and Country Planning, March 2010, pp138-143.
  • SHEATE, W R, and Partidário, M R (2010), Strategic approaches and assessment techniques: potential for knowledge brokerage towards sustainability, Environmental Impact Assessment Review Vol: 30, Pages:278-288.
  • Zhou, K and SHEATE, W. R. (2009), Comparative analysis of SEA legal requirements and institutional structure in China (Mainland), Canada and the UK (England), Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management, 11 (4): 387-426 (Special Issue on SEA in China).
  • Partidário, M.R., SHEATE, W.R.,Bina, O., Byron, H. and Augusto, B. (2009) Sustainability Assessment for Agriculture Scenarios in Europe's Mountain Areas: Lessons from Six Study Areas, Environmental Management, Vol: 43, Pages: 144 - 165.
  • SHEATE, W R, Partidário, M R, Byron, H, Bina, O and Bennett, S, (2008) Sustainability Assessment of Future Scenarios: Methodology and Application to Mountain Areas of Europe, Environmental Management, 41 (2): 282-299.
  • SHEATE, W.R and Kiely, A (2007), Causal chain analysis: making the link, The Environmentalist, Issue 51, pp 21-23 (October 2007).
  • SHEATE, W.R. and Bennett, S. (2007), The WaterFramework Directive, Assessment, Participation and Protected Areas: What are the Relationships? Synthesis Report to the Irish Environmental Protection Agency, ERTDI Research Programme, Report No. 67 (October 2007, available at http://www.epa.ie/downloads/pubs/research/water/name,23575,en.html).
  • SHEATE, W., Byron H., Dagg S., and Cooper L. (2005) The Relationship between the EIA and SEA Directives, Final Report to the European Commission DG Environment, Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, available at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eia/pdf/final_report_0508.pdf
  • SHEATE, W.R. and Leinster, T, (2005), SEA of Water Industry Plans and Programmes, Water Law, 16 (4):115-121.
  • Gu L.X., and SHEATE W.R. (2005), Institutional challenges for EIA implementation in China: A case study of development versus environmental protection, Environmental Management, Vol:36, Pages:125-142,
  • Adomokai R. and SHEATE, W.R. (2004), Community participation and environmental decision-making in the Niger Delta, Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Vol:24, Pages:495-518.
  • Cooper, L. M. and SHEATE, W. R. (2004), Integrating cumulative effects assessment into UK strategic planning: implications of the European Union SEA Directive, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, , Vol:22, Pages:5-16.
  • SHEATE, W.R., Byron, H.J. and Smith, S.P.(2004) , Implementing the SEA Directive: Sectoral Challenges and Opportunities for the UK and EU, European Environment, Vol:14, Pages:73-93
  • SHEATE, W.R.(2004) The SEA Directive 2001/42/EC: Reinvigorating Environmental Integration, Environmental Law and Management, 2004, Vol:16, Pages:119-124
  • SHEATE, W.R. (2003), Changing Conceptions and Potential for Conflict in Environmental Assessment - Environmental Integration and Sustainable Development in the EU, Environmental Policy and Law, Vol. 33 (5): 219-230
  • SHEATE, W.R., Dagg, S., Richardson, J., Aschemann, R., Palerm, J. and Steen, U. (2003), Integrating the Environment into Strategic Decision- Making: Conceptualizing Policy SEA, European Environment, Vol 13 (1) 1-18.
  • SHEATE, W.R. (2003), The EC Directive on Strategic Environmental Assessment: A Much-Needed Boost for Environmental Integration, European Environmental Law Review, Vol:12, Pages:331-347.
  • SHEATE, W.R., Dagg, S., Richardson, J., Aschemann, R., Palerm, J. and Steen, U., (2001) SEA and Integration of the Environment into Strategic Decision-Making (3 Volumes), Final Report to the European Commission, DG XI, Contract No. B4-3040/99/136634/MAR/B4 available at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eia/sea-support.htm Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, (2001), 438pp.
  • SHEATE, W.R. (1992) Lobbying for Effective Environmental Assessment, Long Range Planning, Vol:25, Pages:90-98.
  • SHEATE, W.R. and Macrory, R.B. (1989) Agriculture and the EC Environmental Assessment Directive - Lessons for Community Policy-Making, J Common Mark Stud, Vol:28, Pages:68-81.