Neil Thin is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. He specializes in appreciative social planning, i.e. engaging multidisciplinary happiness and well-being scholarship in public policy and practice. To this end, he is currently (2015) a part-time Parliamentary Fellow in the Scottish Parliament. He also has over 20 years of practical and policy experience working towards the reduction of poverty and promotion of justice and well-being in poorer countries, working at all levels from grassroots to governmental and international official agencies.
He has frequently served as a social development adviser and trainer for international development agencies such as the UK Department for International Development, UN Agencies, the World Bank, and international NGOs.
For over 10 years he served as a Director/Trustee of Practical Action [formerly Intermediate Technology Development Group] and latterly also as Chair of Practical Action Publications (formerly ITDG Publications, now incorporating Oxfam Publications). He was also a Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Tropical Forests, Adviser to the Scottish Executive International Development Programme, and to NIDOS, BOND, and the UK National Lottery Charities Board's International Grants Programme, and the Diana Princes of Wales Fund.
Dr. Thin is the author of Social Happiness: Research into Policy and Practice (Policy Press 2012), and Social Progress and Sustainable Development (ITDG Publications 2002). He is also the author of numerous journal articles and chapters in edited volumes.
