Will Steffen

During his 35-year career in the mountains, Will Steffen, a Canberra resident, has climbed on every continent except Antarctica and has combined rockclimbing in Australia with alpine climbing in New Zealand and expedition climbing in the Himalaya. He was a member of the 1988 Australian Baruntse Expedition. He has a keen interest in the development of Australian mountaineering, and has written two surveys of Australian Himalayan climbing as well as profiles of several leading Australian climbers.In his academic life, Will Steffen is Executive Director of the Climate Change Institute at The Australian National University, Canberra, and also serves as a Climate Commissioner. From 1998 to mid-2004, he served as Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, based in Stockholm, Sweden. His research interests span a broad range within the fields of climate change and Earth System science, with an emphasis on incorporation of human processes in Earth System modelling and analysis; and on sustainability, climate change and the Earth System.