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Royal honour for Professor Harriet Bulkeley

15 June 2024
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A head and shoulders photograph of Professor Harriet Bulkeley

One of our leading geography researchers has been honoured by His Majesty King Charles III.

Professor Harriet Bulkeley, who leads boundary-breaking research into climate change, received an OBE in The King’s Birthday Honours list.

Harriet’s honour was awarded to her for services to geography and environmental governance.

Nature-based solutions

Harriet’s research looks at problems and solutions relating to environmental management and governance, with a particular focus on climate change, biodiversity, energy and nature-based solutions.

Her work is often cited by her fellow academics worldwide and she has been included in the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list of the top one per cent of researchers internationally four times since 2016.

I am surprised and delighted to have been recognised in this way. Geography and its potential to address the environmental challenges we face has fascinated me ever since I was at school. It has been immensely rewarding to contribute to research, policy and practice for climate, nature and justice through my work.
Professor Harriet Bulkeley, OBE
Department of Geography

City Climate Action Planning

Harriet has co-authored the UN-Habitat’s Guiding Principles for City Climate Action Planning.

Her research has been used by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, International Energy Agency, the World Bank and other international organisations in urban climate change governance.

She is also an expert advisor to the UK Government and the European Commission, a member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council and is also a professor at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

Honorary doctorate

Earlier this year Harriet received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Science at Lund University, in Sweden.

That award celebrated Harriet’s interdisciplinary work on climate change and the way this has helped to foster interdisciplinary climate research at Lund University.

Find out more

  • We are a world-leading centre of geographic education, ranked 16th in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024.Our success as a department is a measure of the open, inclusive environment we foster for students. To be a member of Durham Geography is to be welcomed by a community that wants you to succeed and creates an environment to make it happen. Feeling inspired? Visit our Geography webpages to find out more about studying with us. 

Main picture - credit wunderlustfotografie.