Montgomery Simus
PhD researcher
School of Humanities, University of Hull
Profile
Monty Simus’s doctoral research is funded by the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships Centre for Water Cultures (Co-I Porter) within its Living With/Out Water Strand, which is convened by the Treatied Spaces Research Group. Monty’s focus is water ownership, First Nations, climate-adaptive finance, natural resources, and the blue-green trade-offs that must be evaluated to make informed policy and economic decisions.
Monty’s interdisciplinary PhD research centres on one of the world’s primary sites of contemporary water cultures in profound conflict: Pebble Mine, Bristol Bay, Alaska. His project explores the new, global dependence on rare metals, and how Indigenous and non-Indigenous imperatives intersect within debates on its potential development. Primary doctoral supervisor Professor Joy Porter; Secondary Supervisor Professor Andy Jonas, Professor of Human Geography.
For more on Pebble Mine, see here: https://www.bbnc.net/our-corporation/pebble-mine/
Prior to starting his PhD, Monty was an inaugural Impact Leader-In-Residence at Harvard University, focused on global water policy, conflict, and upon fostering collective hope for a water-just future.
Qualifications/Education
- BA History, Yale University
- MPP Public Policy – Development Economics, Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government
- Senior Advanced Leadership Fellow, Harvard University (2015-2017)
- Impact Leader-In-Residence, Harvard University (2023)
Publications/Writing
- Simus M.F. and Workman J.G. (2010) ‘The Water Ethic: The Inexorable Birth Of A Certain Alienable Right’, Tulane Environmental Law Journal, Vol.23, No.2, pp. 440-472.
- Simus M.F. (2010) ‘H2Own: The Water Ethic & An Equitable Market for the Exchange of Individual Water Efficiency Credits’, Johns Hopkins Global Water Journal, [Online]. Available at: http://globalwater.jhu.edu/magazine/article/h2own_water_ethic_and_an_equitable_market/ (Accessed: 15 July 2010)
- Simus M.F. and Workman J.G. (2010) ‘Giving Our Choke Point The Heimlich Maneuver: A Bottoms – Up Egalitarian Approach To Reverse America’s Watergy Crisis’, Circle of Blue, [Online]. Available at: https://www.circleofblue.org/2010/world/giving-our-choke-point-the-heimlich-maneuver/ (Accessed: 1 November 2010)
- Simus M.F. (2016) ‘Yemen’s Endgame in the Axis of Aridity: Turning Black Markets Into New Opportunities’, International Water Association – The Source Magazine, [Online]. Available at: https://www.thesourcemagazine.org/turning-black-markets-into-new-opportunities/ (Accessed: 29 February 2016)
- Simus M.F. (2017) ‘Unleashing Tehran’s Water Renaissance’, International Water Association – The Source Magazine, Issue 7, May 2017, pp. 48-51.
- Burt et al (2023) ‘The Design of Climate-Adaptive Water Subsidies: Financial Incentives for Urban Water Conservation in Morocco’, Journal of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene for Development, [Online]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2023.236 (Accessed: 18 April 2023). [Collaborator Only]
Impact and Engagements
- Founder/CEO, Water Politics Ltd. (www.waterpolitics.com) (2007-present)
- Executive Director, Global Growth at WorldFish (www.worldfishcenter.org) (2020-2022)
- Director, Bayat Foundation Afghanistan (www.bayatfoundation.org) (2005-present)
