Potted biodata:-

Last full-time post. Dep. Director/Senr. Lect., Sir David Owen Population Centre, Cardiff Univ. (1975-1981).

Subsequent part-time work. Visiting lecturer @ Cardiff, (1981- ): ditto @ Exeter University Population Institute, (1982-85). Consultant, writer and lecturer on population and social problems. Advisory Ed. Population & Environment. Human Sciences Press, N.Y. (1987- )

Earlier career. Started work in 1934, aged 14, as tea-boy/apprentice in mechanical engineering. RAF pilot at home and overseas, 1941-46. Trained as aeronautical draughtsman-designer post-war, then switched to civil-engineering. Later left to spend a year exploring Europe on foot. Returned to odd jobs in farming and the civil-service whilst studying philosophy and psychology in WEA evening classes. Won Mature State Scholarship; graduated 1955 in philosophy and politics from then new Keele University.

Sociological researcher with National Coal Board, 1955-59. Joined Brunel College of Technology as Nuffield Research Associate; appointed Lecturer in Social Institutions, 1961, assimilated into new School of Social Sciences on Brunel's elevation to university status. Moved, December 1974, to concentrate on population studies at the Cardiff Centre. Left full-time post in 1981, to work independently.

Other activities. Conservation Society; founder-memb. 1966; Hon. Education Officer until 1969. National Council member and local branch Chairman, 1971-75; memb. Working Party on Population 1983 --. Though not a party member, served on the Liberal Party's Environment, Optimum Population, & Economic Growth panels, 1971-75. Independent Commission on Transport; memb. 1973-74, joint author/editor of Report, Changing Directions (1974).

Public lectures; extensive series since 1964 in many parts of Britain on population, development, and environmental issues. Broadcasting; since 1948 on the Continent and at home, many talks, interviews, etc, on various topics, mainly on population and environment. Films; appeared in several. Wrote and directed the documentary on the coal industry; The Blackhill Campaign, released 1965, copy now in National Film Archive.

International Union for the Conservation of Nature; memb. Task-Force on Population & Resources, (1982-85). Helped draft the Supplement to the World Conservation Strategy. Occasional consultant to IPPF, IUCN, OXFAM, Population Concern, the Education Department of British Petroleum, & other bodies. Has attended and spoken at many international conferences and been a visiting fellow at the Australian National University @ Canberra. Gave seminars there and at various other universities and institutions in the UK and in Bucharest (1974 World Population Conference), Salzburg, Bangkok, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC.

Most recent paper (21 Oct., 1999): 'Population & Environment: Perspectives', delivered to the Interparliamentary Conference on Demographic Change & Sustainable Development under the aegis of the Council of Europe Committee on Migration, Refugees & Demography, in the Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest.

Elected Patron of the UK Optimum Population Trust, 1994; Hon. Associate of the Rationalist Press Assoc., Jan. 1995, and, in 1997, Hon. Adviser to EPOC. (The European Pherology Organisations Confederation. 'Pherology' being the science of carrying capacity).

Between 1989 and the end of 1998, my main activity has been writing my opus on human population competition by invitation from, and on funds supplied by, an American foundation. This is a very controversial topic which may have something to do with the fact that the ms was rejected by 101 publishers before it found a home with the Edwin Mellen Academic Press at Lewiston, New York.

Publications. Over 100 reviews, articles, monographs, pamphlets, working-papers, etc.

To find out more about Jack, view his homepage: jackparsons.members.beeb.net  or his web site at www.populationparsons.com

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