Dr Benson is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Politics, University of Exeter, Cornwall. He is also an interdisciplinary environmental social scientist and faculty member of the Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) at the University of Exeter, a globally leading establishment for research into sustainable development. He received his PhD in Environmental Sciences in 2007 from the University of East Anglia, UK. His interdisciplinary research, at the interface between environmental and political sciences, encompasses a range of subject areas including water, climate and energy governance. He has also conducted extensive research on EU environmental policy.