Shanta Barley

Dr Shanta Barley is Director of the Real Zero Hub at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Vienna, Austria. The Hub’s flagship research programme, Exploring Real Zero, includes a multi-institution initiative to develop new climate scenarios that will explore how rapidly gross emissions can be reduced to zero or near zero through real world innovation. The project is also leading a global assessment of near-term compounding climate damages and translating the science into national roadmaps in support of the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels process.

 

Prior to joining IIASA, Shanta was Chief Climate Scientist at Fortescue and Editor at Minderoo Foundation, one of the Asia-Pacific region’s largest philanthropic foundations. Shanta trained as a marine ecologist and oceanographer, completing her PhD and postdoctoral research in Western Australia, a Master's in Oceanography in Southampton, and an undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Oxford. Earlier in her career, she worked as a science and environment journalist for the BBC and New Scientist. She also worked as a field scientist in southwest Madagascar with Blue Ventures, a community-led ocean and fisheries management initiative that became Madagascar's first Locally Managed Marine Area in 2006.