Nic Marks

Biographical Information
"Nic Marks is Head of the Centre for Well-being at the New Economics Foundation, NEF. He has a degree in Management Studies from Cambridge University, an MSc from Lancaster University and a postgraduate diploma in Change Agent Skills and Strategies from the University of Surrey. He is a qualified psychotherapist and a member of the International Society for Quality of Life Studies.   Nic was the co-author of the first edition of the UK Index of Sustainable Economics Welfare, which NEF first published in 1994. He is also a consultant to a project sponsored by the Government of Bhutan on how to construct indicators for assessing Gross National Happiness in Bhutan."

"My first degree was in Mathematics and Management Studies from Cambridge University. I also have a Master’s degree in Operational Research from Lancaster University and a postgraduate diploma in Change Agent Skills and Strategies from the Human Potential Research Group at the University of Surrey. In the 1990s I qualified and worked for a while as a psychotherapist and then an organisational change consultant.  I am also a member of the International Society for Quality of Life Studies – ISQOLS.  In 2007 nef won the ISQOLS ‘Betterment of the Human Condition” award in recognition of our work on the Happy Planet Index."

He writes: "I love what Gaia stands for – literally Mother Earth – and the organisation, founded by my good friends Ed Posey and Liz Hoskins, focuses on promoting cultural and biological diversity." He lists the following people as providing him with inspiration: Manfred Max Neef, Stafford Beer, Roberto Assagioli, Martin Luther King, Ed Diener, Barbara Fredrickson, and Tim Jackson. He adds that: "In the early 1990s I did a three year training at the London based Psychosynthesis and Education Trust which has been very influential on my later thinking. Probably the biggest insight I take forward is the idea that at the centre of every problem is a good quality seeking to emerge. So to overcome conflicts (whether within ourselves or inter-personal) one can always try to identify the core good quality on both sides of the conflict."


 * Trustee, Gaia Foundation
 * Director, Action for Happiness
 * Advisory, Halloran Philanthropies

Books

 * The Happiness Manifesto: how people and nations can nurture well-being.