ITAD Curriculum Vitae Family Name
Chalmers
First Name
Neil Alexander
Date of Birth
6 March 1959
Nationality
British
Civil Status
Married
Education
University of Reading Oct 1978- Jun 81
Language Skills: English French
Speaking 5 2
Reading 5 2
Writing 5 1
Other Skills:
Programming in Pascal, C, Fortran, Basic, dBase (Clipper, Foxpro), SQL (Oracle), MS-Access (including Visual Basic), Delphi; Experience in the use of spreadsheets, databases, word-processors, GIS (ARC/INFO & ArcView) and statistical packages (SAS, SPSS). Good working knowledge of Windows and Unix operating systems and networks (TCP/IP & NFS). HTML authoring including Javascript
Present Position:
Consultant
Years within the Firm: Key Qualifications
Farm management, land use economics, computer programming, information
systems
design
and
implementation,
agrarian
development, rural surveys, monitoring and evaluation. Countries Worked:
Russia, Romania, Mongolia, Albania, Hungary, China, Pakistan, USA, Italy, Thailand, Brazil, Tanzania, Vietnam, Nepal.
Professional Experience Record: (Feb 1991 to date)
Present position Freelance agricultural economist. Currently spending six months of the year working in the Environmental and Socio-Economics Group of the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute (MLURI). Much of the work at the MLURI is funded by the Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department (SERAD - formerly SOAEFD). My work involves database development, data analysis and economic analysis as part of a team of economists. My main role in this respect is to provide support colleagues in the data analysis components of the research. Much of the work involves handling existing data or conducting surveys with subsequent input, cleaning and analysis. Data processing tools with which I
Curriculum Vitae – Neil Chalmers
am familiar include Microsoft Office (including substantial expertise in Access database development including Visual Basic); SPSS; SAS; ARC/INFO and Arcview GIS packages; Oracle database server. I have also been engaged in the development of computer based bio-economic models in order to investigate aspects of agricultural policy and the statistical analysis of data acquired within the research activities listed below. I also provide general support and advice to colleagues on computer related matters. Current and recent projects include (MLURI client/funding source in parenthesis): • The Invercauld Estate Audit Project - economic analysis of integrated management options for a highland estate (hill farming, deer stalking, grouse shooting, forestry etc.). •
Forestry's contribution to rural economy in Scotland: a multiplier study (Forestry Commission). Assistance in data handling and economic modelling.
•
The Mar Estate, Braemar, Audit Project - economic analysis of integrated management options for a highland estate.
•
Socio -Economic and Agricultural Impacts of the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) Scheme in Scotland (funded by SERAD). My contribution includes analysis of existing data sources and tabulation and analysis of the survey data generated within the project. Extensive use of Microsoft Access for data handling and SAS for tabulation and statistical analysis.
•
Economic appraisal of nitrate management at the catchment level using the River Ythan as a model (SERAD). This involves bioeconomic modelling of diffuse source pollution in Scottish agriculture, specifically focusing on the abatement of nitrate losses from lowland agriculture. This work is ongoing and accounts for a significant proportion of my time at MLURI at present. The approach is based on a mathematical programming model of representative farms using technical data derived from a number of bio-physical models. The resulting model permits the investigation of a range of policy instruments focussing on their effect on farm incomes and pollution abatement. Use of SAS OR module for linear programming.
Completed work •
Evaluation of Farm Woodland Premium Scheme (SERAD). This work formed the basis for the development of a statistical model of the determinants of farmer participation in the scheme.
•
Preparing chapters on agriculture and the economy for the Cairngorms Baseline Study – (Cairngorms Partnership)
•
the design, conduct and analysis of a survey of 1300 farmers and land owners in Scotland on the subject of countryside access;
•
the development of a computer model for appraising forestry investment potential within Scotland;
For the remainder of the time I am available for consultancy work both in the UK and overseas. Since 1991 my work programme has consisted of 6 months work with
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Curriculum Vitae – Neil Chalmers
MLURI, typically 3 months work abroad and the remaining time conducting work for other UK clients. Specific experience in countries with formerly centrally planned economies Russia (1998). Support for Farm Information and Consultancy Services. Design of internal management information system which included the development of a fully working prototype in Microsoft Access. (British KHF - ADAS International - 5 weeks / 2 trips). •
Russia (1996). Participation in project monitoring mission for the British Know-How Fund farm privatisation project. This mission involved a specific review of and advice upon the methods used in the gathering and reporting of project impact data.
•
Romania (1996). Design, implementation and analysis of a baseline survey for an agricultural extension project. The survey comprised 520 farmers throughout Romania and the work was done in conjunction with the Institute of Agricultural Economics, Bucharest. Tasks included questionnaire design, sampling, training enumerators, analysis and report writing (EU-Phare - ADAS International - 8 weeks).
•
Romania (1995). Design of Management Information System for national agricultural extension service. Development of monitoring & evaluation programme for extension project. (EU-Phare - ADAS International - 8 weeks).
•
Mongolia (1994). World Bank mission to conduct project pre-appraisal study on crop sector including economic modelling of crop production systems. (3½ weeks);
•
Albania (1993 & 94). FAO institution building project in Ministry of Agriculture, assisting computerisation of Directorate of Statistics, designing systems for data recording and analysis and training staff. During this time a full, national scale farm economics survey, to which I made a significant contribution, was designed, implemented and analysed The latter was done in conjunction with the International Fertilizer Development Center. (22 weeks);
•
Hungary, Keszthely (Pannon University - 1992 & 93) working on curriculum development and running workshop on computers in farm management teaching. Also worked on developing farm case study and other teaching material. (TEMPUS - University of Edinburgh) (6 weeks);
•
Mongolia (1992) for the Institute of Development Studies collecting data and preparing report on economic analysis of wheat production on State Farms (4 weeks);
•
Mongolia (FAO 1989, 1990 & 1991 4 trips). Designing and implementing information systems for farm management and assisting in restructuring of State farms and co-operatives. This involved the specification and development of a microcomputer-based recording system for physical and financial farm data, and assisting in the development of local farm management training materials (17 weeks);
•
China (FAO 1988). Pilot project setting up computerised, farmhousehold economics survey. Work included training, systems analysis (design of tables, coding etc.) and preparation of project terminal statement (5 weeks);
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Curriculum Vitae – Neil Chalmers
Oct 1989 - Feb 1991
Professional Experience Record Agricultural Economist (lecturer), Wye College (University of London). Responsible for management and development of short course programme (covering microcomputers in agricultural development, monitoring and evaluation and agricultural policy analysis). During this time I also contributed to the teaching of some of these courses.
June 1982 - Oct 1989 Agricultural Economist, North of Scotland College of Agriculture, Aberdeen (now SAC) •
Lecturing in farm management at degree and diploma level;
•
Development of microcomputer applications for use in farm management work (primarily for extension and education).
•
Participating in the research and consultancy activities of the Economics Division (including the economics of small farms, regional input-output models and computer assisted learning);
•
Extension work in farm management and computer applications;
•
Assisting within the Farm Accounts Scheme (a farm economics survey EU RICA), particularly in the area of computerisation;
•
Contributing to publications, including (editing) the Farm Management Handbook.
Other consultancies Pakistan (1998) – Participation in the inaugural workshop for the project “Opportunities for increased food production from livestock through improved rangeland management and animal feeding strategies in transhumance pastoral systems of the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalayan region”. This project is funded by the EU INDO-DC programme and involves a number of partners including the MLURI. My role to provide a small consultancy input on issues concerning farm household economics (15 days in total). UK (1997) - development of a computerised management information system for the External Funding Unit of the Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen. The work included design of data structures etc. and the implementation using MS-Access. UK/USA (1996/97) - consultancy in management information systems for Retsco International, a firm making specialist oilfield equipment. I provided specialist computing input for the installation of new computerised accounting system in their Houston office and advised on procedures for the Aberdeen operation. Involvement with the firm on an ad hoc basis is continuing including the development of a computer-based parts catalogue. FAO HQ, (Rome, Italy) (1991) working on methods of using and documenting electronic mail and international databases (2 weeks); Pakistan (ITAD ltd 1991). Conducting training course on microcomputer methods for project monitoring and evaluation (Left Bank Outfall Drain project - 3 weeks); Tanzania (1990), at Sokoine University, Morogoro as part of a British Council funded link with Wye College. During my stay I participated (as an assistant trainer) in a course on agricultural policy analysis, as well as
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Curriculum Vitae – Neil Chalmers
working with the local staff in areas of common interest (3 weeks); Thailand (FAO, 1987) - Developing training materials on "The Integrated Use of Microcomputer Software in Farm Management Work" and conducting the pilot course at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand (4 weeks); Brazil (FAO, 1986) as systems analyst, installing FARMAP (farm survey recording package) at Embrater, the national extension service (4 weeks).
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