Alastair Smith has spent nearly twenty years teaching and researching sustainable development, always looking across disciplines rather than within just one. After a PhD on Fair Trade governance, he stayed on at Cardiff University, working on projects funded by the Department for International Development and the Welsh Government. Along the way he’s spent time in the coca-growing regions of Colombia and designed field-based learning in the tropical forests of Panama and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Until 2024 he was Associate Professor in Global Sustainable Development at the University of Warwick, where he became known for his work in critical education and for helping others lead change. Alastair has always tried to match his thinking with doing — including as a volunteer and an elected trade union representative.
He now works as an independent scholar and consultant, and is a founding director of the Community for Alternative Thought, Learning and Action, based in Sir Gaerfyrddin (Carmarthenshire). A long-time advocate of recognising and responding to the global Climate and Nature Emergency, Alastair joined the board in 2026 to support the increasingly urgent work of Size of Wales.
