Mark New is Pro-VC for Climate Change and Director of the African Climate & Development Initiative (ACDI) at the University of Cape Town. He is also Professor in Climate Science at the University of Oxford.
As Pro-VC for Climate Change he is responsible for the ACDI and the coordination of cutting-edge research and teaching at UCT on the twin issues of low carbon and climate resilient development, from a strongly African perspective. The ACDI draws on the intellectual capital of the range of disciplines at UCT and external collaborators, to create the largest concentration of expertize in climate and development in Africa.
Mark has a BSc Hons in Geology from UCT, an MPhil in Environment and Development from Cambridge, and a PhD in Geography from Cambridge. Prior to his current posts, he was, a lecturer, reader and then Professor of Climate Science at the School of Geography, University of Oxford from 1999 to 2011. He was then a Senior Research Fellow at the Climatic Research Unit at University of East Anglia from 1995 to 1999.
His research has encompassed detection of climate change trends, climate modelling and scenarios, assessment of uncertainty in climate projections and impacts, and climate change adaptation. His current research focuses on hydrology in earth system science, decadal scale climate change, improved understanding of the concept of dangerous climate change, adapting to emerging climate risks and multiple climate impacts, especially water and agriculture, and on the interactions between multiple climate and environmental stressors, and in the application of the ‘Safe Operating Spaces’ concept at regional, national and local scales.
Mark has consulted and advised a range of organizations on climate and development issues, including the World Bank, the Asian and African Development Banks, DfID, USAID, and WWF. He has worked in a range of countries including: South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia, Rwanda, India, Nepal, Peru, Chile, Brazil, and several Caribbean states.
He sits on the SA Global Change Science Committee, the Africa Future Earth Science Committee, is on the editorial board of Environmental Research Letters, and has served on various other science committees and reference groups.