DirectorUNU Institute for Natural Resources
Dr. Denton is an accomplished senior manager in the UN system, respected across the research and implementation branches of the organization. She has in-depth knowledge of natural resource management, and extensive experience of research and policy development, in the African region. Prior to joining UNU-INRA, Dr. Denton worked with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), based in Addis Ababa from 2012. Her research has focused on climate change adaptation looking at resilience systems – sectors such as agriculture, water and energy, principally in Africa. She has also worked at the intersections between
adaptation and mitigation, gender and development and energy poverty and development in Africa; and examined different types of renewable energy transformations in Africa.
Since 2012, her research has extended to climate mitigation looking principally at green economy and decarbonization strategies in Africa especially with regard to current efforts on greening the value chains vis-avis Africa’s industrialisation ambitions. She has an established track record in building programmes on the interrelationships between adaptation and mitigation in Africa, implications for stranded hydrocarbon assets and intersections between climate change, food security and trade towards green transitions.
Dr. Denton is a Lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on climate change and land, a Lead author for the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, Working Group III, and was previously a Lead author for the Working Group II Fourth and Fifth Assessment Reports and for the IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy and Climate. Dr. Denton has written more than 50 peer-reviewed articles, reports, and books and holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Birmingham (UK).