Prof. Dr. Dirk Messner is President of the German Environment Agency since 2020. He previously served as Director of the Institute for Environment and Human Security of United Nations University (UNU-EHS) in Bonn, Germany, and Vice Rector of the United Nations University (UNU). Prior to becoming Director of UNU-EHS in October 2018, Prof. Messner had been Director of the German Development Institute from 2003-2018. He has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen from 2004-2019; since 2022 he holds an Adjunct Professorship at the Free University of Berlin.  Prof. Messner is an internationally recognised expert on globalisation / global governance, transformation pathways to sustainability, decarbonization of the global economy, sustainability and digital change, and international cooperation and societal change. Prof. Messner has also been a member of a number of high-ranking policy advisory councils, including co-chairing the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). He is a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development and Board Member of the Stockholm Environment Institute.