Christopher Trisos
Director, African Synthesis Centre for Climate Change, Environment and Development (ASCEND)
Trisos is trained as an ecologist and serves as the Director of the African Synthesis Centre for Climate Change, Environment and Development (ASCEND) and the Climate Risk Lab at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
Originally from Cape Town, he is deeply committed to reducing the impacts of climate change on people and ecosystems in Africa, particularly vulnerable and marginalized communities.
He completed his Ph.D. in zoology at Oxford University and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the National Socio-environmental Synthesis Centre (SESYNC) at the University of Maryland. He chose SESYNC to learn how to run a synthesis center, with the goal of launching Africa’s first synthesis center focused on climate change solutions.
In 2019, he was awarded a Future Leaders Africa Research Fellowship by the UK Royal Society and the African Academy of Sciences, which enabled him to return to the University of Cape Town.
He has served as an IPCC Coordinating Lead Author, negotiated for South Africa at UN climate change negotiations, and worked to enhance evidence-based policymaking on climate change across Africa, including within the African Union and the African Group of Negotiators. Recently, he submitted an evidence statement to the International Court of Justice as part of the African Union’s submission regarding the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change. He is a Schmidt Sciences Polymath award holder and will take up the position of AXA Research Chair in African Climate Risk in July.
