Emeritus Professor Mark Howden AC says a core part of his motivation is an ethos he picked up from his mum, ‘make science useful’. 

Professor Howden was the director of the Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions at The Australian National University, where he worked for a decade. 

He has also played a vital role in the creation of national and international climate policy through his work with the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC). 

Professor Howden was also a chief research scientist in agriculture at CSIRO for over 15 years. 

For his work, Professor Howden was appointed a Companion of the Order for eminent service to environmental science, to the global response on climate change and adaptation, to agriculture, and to tertiary education.  

“Some of the greatest moments of my career have been when people come up to me and say something like, ‘you won’t remember me, but I heard you speak several years ago and that has changed my life for the better’. Hard to get better than that,” he says. 

“Working on, and making progress with, some of the biggest problems and opportunities facing humanity is also a key driver for me – it is a privilege to do this.

“I also find great satisfaction in being able to build the knowledge of others in their own context in a factual, straightforward, calm, respectful and rational way, and to influence decisions via my Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other roles.”

Professor Howden says the recognition is important to him for a variety of reasons. 

“In part, it means a hugely significant recognition of me and the work I have done over many years to try to make progress on some of the critical issues of our time,” he explains. 

“It’s also recognition of the importance of the issue of climate change and the imperative to adapt to the changes we are already experiencing, and which are very likely to grow to critical levels in the next decades.

“Lastly and perhaps most importantly, it is recognition of my family, colleagues and friends who have, over the years, helped me to do what I do.

“No person is an island.”