About the Speaker

Jean-Pascal van Ypersele (1957, Belgium), has a Ph. D. in physics from the Université catholique de Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium), where he is extraordinary professor of climatology and environmental sciences, and directs the Master programme in Science and Management of the Environment (http://www.uclouvain.be/cgse). He made his doctoral research in climatology at NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research, Colorado, USA).

He specialized in modelling climate and the climate effects of human activities, and has recently focused his research on the impacts of climate change and on integrated assessment modelling. He chairs the Energy & Climate Working Group of the Belgian Federal Council for Sustainable Development (http://www.cfdd.be). Since 2002, he is member of the Bureau of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore), and has been elected Vice-chair of IPCC in 2008. In 2009, he was elected a Member of the Belgian Royal Academy.

He has participated to a number of United Nations conferences on climate issues, as scientific advisor. Among other prizes, he received in 2006 the Energy and environment award from the International Polar Foundation, and the Francqui Chair from the Université libre de Bruxelles in 2007-2008.