Rob Hopkins (born 24 June 1968) is an English activist and writer on environmental issues, based in Totnes, England.

From 1988, he spent two and a half years living at Istituto Lama Tsong Khapa, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Tuscany, Italy, working as the house manager.

They settled in Bristol, where Rob earned a degree in Environmental Quality & Resource Management at the University of the West of England,[2] and also undertook his Permaculture Design Course.

[citation needed] Hopkins holds a first class Honours degree in environmental quality and resource management from the University of the West of England (1993–1996), a Master of Science in social research (2007) and a doctorate at Plymouth University (2011) on the subject of transition (Localisation and Resilience at the Local Level: The Case of Transition Town Totnes).

[5] The Hollies Centre for Sustainability ran a series of courses in natural building and built two new cob houses, using local materials.

In 2004, he became aware of the concept of peak oil, and set his students the task of applying permaculture principles to addressing this challenge.

TV presenter Nicholas Crane, in an episode of his series Town, visited Totnes and declared, "This is the biggest urban brainwave of the century.

Transition Network has run seven conferences: Nailsworth (2007); Royal Agriculture College, Cirencester (2008); Battersea Arts Centre (2009); Dame Hannah's at Seale Hayne (2010); Hope University, Liverpool (2011); Battersea Arts Centre (2012);[9] and Dame Hannah's at Seale Hayne (2015).

It will be one of the first, and most ambitious, uses of a Community Right to Build Order, using a neighbourhood planning power created under the Localism Act 2011, through a referendum due to take place in June 2016.