Professor Groom joined the department from the London School of Economics in the summer of 2020 as the Dragon Capital Chair in Biodiversity Economics. This is a philanthropically funded Chair whose objectives are to strengthen public policy on biodiversity and investigate how the financial sector and consumer behaviour can be changed so that biodiversity is conserved for current and future societies.
Professor Groom currently is a member of the HM Treasury Biodiversity Working Group which is tasked with looking at how to ensure biodiversity is accounted for Cost benefit Analysis of public policy and investment. He is also working on a consultation on intergenerational equity and the environment, also with HM Treasury. He has worked on intergenerational fairness in social decision making and has advised governments across the world on their approach to long-term policy and investment in relation to environmental issues such as biodiversity and climate change. Papers in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, the Economic Journal, the American Economic Review (P&P), Science and Nature have been presented to the UK, US and EU governments and informed their guidance on social discounting and long-term decision-making. Professor Groom has written recent reports to HM Treasury, the Office of National Statistics, the Department of Transport and international organisations such as the OECD, International Transport Forum, the International Seabed Authority and the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Pr. Groom has a PHD in economics from the Department of Economics at University College London.
Prior to his academic career, Pr Groom worked as an Overseas Development Institute Fellow in the Department of Water Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, in the Government of the Republic of Namibia, and as a consultant to the UN Mission in Kosovo. He has worked as a consultant to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Pakistan, the OECD and the Government of China.