Dr Michael Gilmont

Oxford Martin Fellow and Program Manager

Dr Michael Gilmont is a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford Environmental Change Institute (ECI), and a Research Associate of InSIS.

He applies interdisciplinary political, economic and hydrological approaches to analysing water resource development and use. His original conceptualisations on water resource ‘decoupling’ in the Middle East provide the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of the DeFWS project, research which will further develop the theory and policy applications of decoupling. His other work with ECI examines relationships between economic growth, hydroclimatic vulnerability, and water infrastructure investments as buffers to variability, with a focus on trends across states in India. He has also recently been working on water development investments and transboundary water relationships in Asia and Africa, in the context of ongoing Chinese water investments, as part of the DFID-funded ‘Knowledge Exchange in International Waters’ program.

Michael investigates relationships between economic growth, hydroclimatic vulnerability and infrastructure and other water security related investments. He is also working on international water development investments and transboundary water relationships in Asia and Africa. He has previous research experience in the politics of water reform and reallocation in high capacity economies, in which he retains an active interest, in addition to ongoing work on trends in decoupling of water resources from economic and population growth.