Mark New
Expertise: Climate Impacts Modelling; Climate Change Attribution; Loss and Damage; Adaptation
Prof. Mark New is a Professor in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science and a Research Chair at ACDI. He was the previous Director of the African Climate and Development Initiative (2011 - 2023) and the first holder of ACDI’s AXA Research Chair in African Climate Risk (2017-2021). He is also Co-Director of the ARUA Centre of Excellence for Climate and Development (ARUA-CD), where UCT partners with the University of Ghana and Nairobi University to drive pan-African research and teaching on climate change in Africa.
In 2023, Mark and his collaborators, including Dr Petra Holden, received the Frontiers Planet Prize, which awards research that contributes towards solutions to planetary environmental problems such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and water overuse. He has also been awarded the Piers Sellers Prize for world-leading contributions to solution-focused climate research, has twice been named in Apolitical’s list of the 100 most influential people in climate policy, and is the leading African scientist on the Reuters “Hot List” of influential climate scientists.
Mark has over twenty-five years’ experience in climate change research, teaching and project management. His research has encompassed detection of climate change trends, climate modelling and scenarios, assessment of uncertainty in climate projections and impacts, attribution of climate change impacts, and climate change adaptation.
His current research focuses on climate change risk, attribution and climate adaptation, with an African focus, including: (i) improved understanding of climate processes, climate projections, climate risk and attribution; (ii) climate impacts and adaptation, especially with regard to health, fire and water, and compound impacts across sectors; (iii) barriers and enablers to climate adaptation and resilience. He has also contributed to scholarship and teaching on engaged research and transdisciplinary leadership. Mark has been the principal investigator on over twenty large research projects.
He serves on a range of science and policy coordination, advisory and editorial roles, including as (i) Executive Board Member for Environmental Research Letters, (ii) a member of the Science Review Group for the UK Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Science and Services; (iii) the Working Group on Event Attribution at the WCPP Global Extremes Platform and (iv) an advisor to the SA National Biodiversity Institute’s Green Climate Fund project pipeline.
Current ACDI Research Projects
AFRIVERSE
Past ACDI Research Projects