Dr Rhian Rees-Owen has worked as a climate expert within UK Government since 2018. She leads on the UK’s engagement with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN’s globally authoritative body on climate change, ensuring the IPCC remains policy-relevant and produces robust and objective reports that communicate the best available evidence to policymakers. She previously led a multidisciplinary team of scientists and economists in Defra in providing analytical support to UK negotiations under the Convention on Biological Diversity and the G7 and G20. In 2020, she developed and established BEIS’ £5m flagship Climate Services for Net-Zero Resilient World.

Prior to joining government, Rhian spent time at the University of St Andrews studying ocean-climate change links for her post-doctoral research. She holds a PhD in Earth Science from the University of Leeds, and an MSci Chemistry from the University of Bristol.