Katherine Needham

Dr. Katherine Needham (also known as Simpson) is a Lecturer in One Health and Environmental Economics at the University of Glasgow, jointly affiliated with the School of Health & Wellbeing (Department of Health Economics & Health Technology Assessment) and the School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine where she co-leads the Environmental and One Health Economics Special Interest Group. With over 10 years of research experience, she specializes in interdisciplinary approaches to environmental market design, ecosystem valuation, and conservation economics.

Education:

• BSc - University of York (2010)
• MSc by Research in Marine Conservation - University of York (2011)
• PhD in Economics - University of Stirling (2015)

Research Focus: Her work centers on designing nature markets (biodiversity offsets, carbon markets), agri-environment schemes, and valuing coastal/marine ecosystems. She employs methods including discrete choice experiments, contingent valuation, and agent-based modeling to examine links between environmental management, human health, and economic incentives. Current projects focus on mobilizing private finance for nature-based solutions and modeling land-use changes under alternative policy designs.

Publication Trends: Her 24+ publications predominantly explore biodiversity market mechanisms, ecosystem valuation methodologies, and conservation policy evaluation. Recent work (2021-2025) demonstrates increasing focus on market design optimization, pandemic impacts on environmental preferences, and integrated ecological-economic modeling of land-use decisions.

Grants & Funding:

• NERC: Designing Biodiversity Markets for Nature Recovery (2022, £19,734)
• NERC: Rewarding landowners for conserving biodiversity (2022, £48,572)
• EU H2020: Environmental public goods from farming (2019-2023, €448,500)
• Leverhulme Trust: Biodiversity offset markets (2017-2019, £108,000)
• BBSRC: RESPECT (2024-2027)
• UKRI: COAST-R (2024-2028)

Supervision & Labs: Leads PhD projects on natural capital approaches and health-environment linkages. Co-leads the Environmental and One Health Economics research group, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration between economists, ecologists, and health researchers.