Dr Kathryn Bowen is an Honorary Associate Professor at the Fenner School of Environment & Society, a Senior Fellow at the Research School of Population Health, and an Affiliate Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Germany.
She works at the nexus of global environmental change, global health and governance issues, primarily in low and middle-income settings. She holds a PhD (ANU), MSc (International Health) (Humboldt & Frei Universities, Berlin) and BA/Psyc (Hons) (Newcastle).
Dr Bowen has worked in global health research and policy since 1999, across public, private and university sectors. She is a Research Fellow within the Earth System Governance project, and Alumni of the Centre for Sustainability Leadership.
Dr Bowen regularly advises the World Health Organization (WHO) on climate change and health, as well as other national and international organisations, including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the German Organisation for International Development (GIZ), UNDP, Global Environment Facility, and the Asian Development Bank. In Melbourne, she has been working with research and practitioner teams to support the development of tools and mechanisms to strengthen the implementation of locally-based green space projects.
Dr Bowen is a Lead Author in three recent international reports – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report, the UNEP’s Global Environment (GEO-6), and Adaptation Gaps Reports.
Dr Bowen leads and supports practical and applied health and sustainability research that is closely linked with policy change and program development.
Along with five friends, she was a founding board member of ‘Just Change’, a climate change and equity organisation, and she sits on an Environment Advisory Committee for the City of Melbourne. Dr Bowen is an editor of the journal Globalization and Health, and is a reviewer for many journals, including Social Science and Medicine, Global Health Action, Environmental Research Letters, among others.
Dr Bowen is committed to being part of a solutions-focused sustainability community working to harness skills and passion to support global development that is sustainable, healthy and equitable.