Chris West trained as a zoologist at Oxford University (BA, 1975), and has undertaken research on a variety of animals around the world, including gorillas in Rwanda (1972), foxes in Britain (1974-76) and microscopic soil animals on South Georgia (1976-79, PhD London University 1984). He worked at Jersey (1983-86) and Bristol (1987-90) Zoos on the management and genetics of captive populations. He joined the Natural Environment Research Council in 1991, working on marine science and on international research co-operation. Since March 2002, he has been Director of the UK Climate Impacts Programme.

The UK Climate Impacts Programme is a team of twelve that helps organisations assess how they might be affected by climate change, so they can prepare for its impacts. It was set up by the Government in 1997; it is funded by DEFRA and based at the Oxford University Centre for the Environment. It works by promoting stakeholder-led impact research and developing a range of common tools and datasets to help organisations adapt to the impacts of unavoidable climate change.