Brendan Barrett

Profile

Brendan Barrett has been with the United Nations since 1995, first with the United Nations Environment Programme (International Environmental Technology Centre) and then with the United Nations University.  An environmental planner by training, he graduated from Heriot-Watt University in 1983 with a honours degree in Town and Country Planning and completed his Doctorate in 1997 at Oxford Brookes University in the Department of Planning within the Faculty of Technology, Design and the Environment.

In his professional career, he has worked in private sector in the UK undertaking environmental assessments of major projects and as a researcher in Japan looking at environmental policy and impact assessment. Since 1997 he has been undertaking research and exploring how best to communicate and educate on complex social and environmental themes. He has coordinated a number of major projects including the Iwate Environment Network, the Global Virtual University (funded by the Government of Norway), the Asia Pacific Initiative and was the UNU’s focal point for the World Summit on the Information Society. In 2008, he played a key role in the launch of the award winning web magazine, Our World 2.0, that explores the interconnections between major topics of relevance to the work of the United Nations. He currently teaches two course as part of the UNU Masters on Sustainability covering Climate, Energy and Food Security, and Science Communications.

He has held various journal editorial positions, has been a member of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication since 2006 and was an expert review of the IPCC 5th Assessment Report. His current research interests relate to environmental impact assessment, environmental management, policy-making, energy security, climate change, human security, disaster management, web communications, social media, online learning, environmental education, knowledge translation, knowledge management and science communication.