Chief Science and Policy Advisor, Global Risk Forum GRF Davos

Andreas Rechkemmer is Chief Science and Policy Advisor of the Global Risk Forum, Davos, Switzerland, and Senior Associate at the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes. In recent years, he has advised the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on science-policy related matters. Also, he holds affiliations with the University of Cologne, Germany, Beijing Normal University, China, and Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA. He is an expert and advisor in social dimensions of climate change and the synergetic perspective on development, risk, security, and global change. Recently, he co-founded the Rocky Mountain Series on Social Science and Global Change, an international conference and workshop series operating a the interface between science, policy and practice, and the Beijing Dialogues on Development and Climate Change, a high-level science-policy dialogue forum.

From 2005 to 2009, Dr. Rechkemmer was Executive Director of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP), a joint research programme of the International Council for Science (ICSU), the International Social Science Council of UNESCO (ISSC), and the United Nations University (UNU) mandated to coordinate world-wide research on the human and societal aspects of global change. During his career, he has held professional affiliations with several UN agencies, research institutions and governmental agencies. He was a Senior Academic Advisor to the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security and a Professional at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. His association with research institutions has included positions at the Social Science Center Berlin and the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, where he provided advice to the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Federal Chancellor’s Office (Bundeskanzleramt) and the Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt), Berlin. He lectured at the Free University of Berlin, Germany, and the European School of Governance (EUSG).

Dr. Rechkemmer has authored, co-authored and edited several books, and published numerous articles and chapters in peer reviewed journals and academic books, along with a variety of papers, reports, policy briefs, and contributions to various environmental and policy-orientated journals. Among others, he is the editor of UNEO – Towards an International Environment Organization (2005), and co-author of Neue Globale Umweltpolitik (2006). He is a member of several editorial boards and chief editor of the United Nations and Global Change and the Sustainability in the 21st Century book series. He holds Masters Degrees in Philosophy and Political Science from the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Germany, and a Ph.D. (Dr. rer. pol.) in International Relations from the Free University of Berlin, Germany, all with distinctions. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the International Studies Association (ISA). Dr. Rechkemmer was awarded the Scheffel Prize.