New Acting Chair, Asian School of the Environment

​

As of 1 July 2018 the ASE has welcomed a new Acting Chair, Prof Benjamin Horton. We thank Assoc Prof Fidel Costa, who served as the Acting Chair during the past 1.5 years.

Prof Horton is a Professor of Earth and Ocean Sciences at ASE, and a Principal Investigator at the Earth Observatory of Singapore. He has won a number of global awards for excellence in research, such as the Plinius Medal from the European Geosciences Union and the Voyager Award from the American Geophysical Union. He has a strong track record in winning external research funding, and has published over 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Science, Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Geology. He has also been selected as an editor for the sixth (upcoming) IPCC report.

Prof Horton’s research area concerns sea-level change. 200 million people worldwide live along coastlines less than 5 meters above sea level. By the end of the 21st century this figure is estimated to increase to 400 to 500 million. These low-lying coastal regions – the majority are in Asia – are vulnerable to changes in sea level brought about by climate change, storms or earthquakes. Prof Horton’s research uncovers fundamental knowledge about how sea level has changed in the past and how it may change in the future. His findings therefore impact upon important ethical, social, economic and political problems specifically facing such coastal regions.