Myles Robert Allen (born 11 August 1965) is an English climate scientist. He is Professor of Geosystem Science in the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

's School of Geography and the Environment, and head of the Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics Department. Myles Allen profile at the University of Oxford

Education

Allen was educated at the British School in the Netherlands and the

where he was awarded a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

in 1987 followed by a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

degree in 1992. He was a student of St. John's College, Oxford.

Career

As well as his position as Professor of Geosystem science at Oxford, he is the Principal Investigator of the

distributed computing Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems, defined as computer systems whose inter-communicating components are located on different networked computers. The components of a distributed system commu ...

project Climateprediction.net (which makes use of computing resources provided voluntarily by the general public), and was principally responsible for starting this project. He is the Director of th
Oxford Net Zero initiative
and a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

Linacre College, Oxford Linacre College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The college was founded in 1962 and is named after Thomas Linacre (1460–1524), founder of the Royal College of Ph ...

. Allen has worked at the Energy Unit of the

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nati ...

, the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, and the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. He contributed to the Third Assessment Report of the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World Met ...

as a Lead Author of the Chapter on detection of change and attribution of causes, and was a Review Editor for the chapter on predictions of global climate change for the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and a co-author of the IPCC October 8, 2018 Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C. His research focuses on the

attribution of recent climate change The scientific community has been investigating the causes of climate change for decades. After thousands of studies, the scientific consensus is that it is "unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land since pre-i ...

and assessing what these changes mean for global climate simulations of the future. Allen also provided the technical expertise for the game ''Fate of the World'', which is "a PC strategy game that simulates the real social and environmental impact of global climate change over the next 200 years". In 2015, he mentioned that

carbon capture and storage Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a process by which carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial installations is separated before it is released into the atmosphere, then transported to a long-term storage location.IPCC, 2021Annex VII: Glossary at ...

(CCS) should be made mandatory.

Awards and honours

In 2010, Allen was awarded the Edward Appleton Medal and Prize by the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

for "his important contributions to the detection and attribution of human influence on climate and quantifying uncertainty in climate predictions". Allen was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to climate change attribution and prediction and net-zero. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 2023.

Personal life

Allen married Irene Tracey in 1994 and has three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Myles R. 1965 births Living people Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty British climatologists Fellows of Linacre College, Oxford Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change contributing authors Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead authors Fellows of the Institute of Physics United Nations Environment Programme Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society Alumni of the University of Oxford