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Maxwell BoykoffCenter for Science and Technology Policy Research Tel: 303-735-0451 |
Maxwell T. Boykoff is an Assistant Professor in the Center for Science and Technology Policy, which is part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado-Boulder. He teaches in the Environmental Studies program and is Adjunct faculty in the Geography Department. In addition, Max is a Senior Visiting Research Associate in the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford.
He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from the University of California-Santa Cruz and Bachelor of Sciences in Psychology from The Ohio State University. Max has ongoing interests in climate adaptation, cultural politics and environmental governance, science-policy interactions, and political economy and the environment, and he has experience working in North America, Central America, South Asia and Europe.
Max’s research has concentrated on interactions between state and non-state actors at the interface of environmental science, policy and practice. He has been working in two primary research areas: (1) issues in the cultural politics of climate change, and (2) transformations of carbon-based economies and societies.
His students have been working on projects such as transboundary movements and governance of e-waste, particularly between India and the USA, social acceptability of renewable energy development in the US American West, and climate science-policy engagement among members of US Congress.
Max has now authored or co-authored a few dozen peer-reviewed articles and book chapters for edited volumes, including articles in Geoforum, Global Environmental Change, Transactions of the Institute of British Geography, Political Geography, Environmental Research Letters, and Climatic Change. He has also written commentaries for Nature Reports Climate Change and Nieman Reports as well as co-authored a background paper for the 2007 United Nations Development Programme Human Development Reports.
Weaving these interests together, Max worked on two edited books in recent years:
- Contentious Geographies: Environmental Knowledge, Meaning and Scale (Ashgate Publishing) co-edited with Dr. Michael K. Goodman (Kings College London) and Dr. Kyle Evered (Michigan State University).
- The Politics of Climate Change: A Survey (Routledge/Europa)
He has two additional co-edited books forthcoming:
- The New Carbon Economy: Constitution, Governance and Contestation (2012), Wiley-Blackwell, co-edited with Peter Newell (University of Sussex) and Emily Boyd (University of Reading)
- Successful adaptation to climate change: Linking science and policy in a rapidly changing world (2012), Routledge, co-edited with Susanne Moser (Stanford University)
Max is also now working on another monograph called ‘Climate Uncertainty-gate’, which examines the various dimensions of climate science and policy uncertainty through time, and in varied geographical, political and cultural contexts.
Max's research has been mentioned in a range of outlets such as Science, Nature, Financial Times, the Guardian, the New York Times, Forbes, Columbia Journalism Review, the Los Angeles Times, BBC Worldservice and (US) National Public Radio. He has also appeared on CNN International and France24 television.
Related to this work, Max has delivered presentations in a variety of venues such as the Association of Japanese Environmental Journalists in Tokyo in 2010; the 2009 G8+5 Environment Ministers meeting in Siracusa, Italy; the 2009 and 2011 American Geophysical Union annual meetings, the 5th World Congress of Science Journalists in London; side events at the 2008 and 2010 UN Conference of Parties meetings to the UNFCCC (Poland and Mexico); the 2010 Association for the Advancement of Science meeting; the 2010 Global Media Forum for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Germany; and the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Congress.
Max was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. He is proud to be a Badger.
Recent Publications
O’Neill, S. J., M. Boykoff, S. Niemeyer, and S. A. Day (2013), On the use of imagery for climate change engagement. Global Environmental Change, doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.11.006.
Schroeder, H., M. T. Boykoff, and L. Spiers, 2012. Equity and state representations in climate negotiations. Nature Climate Change, doi: 10.1038/nclimate1742.
Boykoff, M. and B. Osnes, 2012. Students sprout creative communications on climate change Inside the Greenhouse. Skeptical Science , Published August 15.
Boykoff, M., 2012. Climate Change and the Media: The Climate Stories We Tell Ourselves. This Side of the Pond, Cambridge University Press Blog, April 2.
Boykoff, M., 2012. A dangerous shift in Obama’s ‘climate change’ rhetoric. The Washington Post, January 27.
Newell, P., M. Boykoff, and E. Boyd, 2012. The New Carbon Economy: Constitution, Governance and Contestation, 208 pp., Wiley-Blackwell, Published January.
Boykoff, M., 2012. Economies must grow for the climate change fight. The Guardian January 16.
Boykoff, M., 2011. COP17: Global Vs Local Solutions. Think Africa Press December 1.
Boykoff, M., 2011. Who Speaks for Climate? Making Sense of Media Reporting on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press.
Boyd, E., M. Boykoff, and P. Newell, 2011. The “New” Carbon Economy: What's New?. Antipode, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8330.2011.00882.x, Published April 15 2011.
O’Neill, S.J. and M. Boykoff, 2011. The role of new media in engaging the public with climate change. In L. Whitmarsh, S.J. O’Neill, and I. Lorenzoni (Ed.), Engaging the Public with Climate Change: Communication and Behaviour Change Chapter 13, Earthscan, London.
Rick, U.K., M.T. Boykoff, and R.A. Pielke, Jr., 2011. Effective media reporting of sea level rise projections: 1989–2009. Environmental Research Letters 6 (1) , doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/6/1/014004.
View all of Max's publications
A Note for Prospective Graduate Students
If you are considering applying to the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Colorado and would like to work with me, please send an email with these three attachments:
- A C.V.
- A statement describing your research interests
- A description of why you’d like to enroll in the Environmental Studies program, and work in my research group
I prefer to discuss research interests with potential graduate students in person, by telephone or Skype/Oovoo before making decisions. So please contact me as soon as you decide that you would like to apply.
