Negin Nazarian recognised with AGU’s Global Environmental Award

21st Century Weather Deputy Director Negin Nazarian has received the 2025 Global Environmental Change Early Career Award from the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

The AGU is the world’s largest Earth and Space science association. It celebrates individuals and teams through its annual honours and recognition program for accomplishments in research, education, science communication and outreach. AGU’s annual meetings bring together more than 25,000 researchers, practitioners, students, and policymakers from around the world.

The Global Environmental Change Early Career Award recognises outstanding research, educational or societal contributions to global environmental change within 10 years of completing a PhD.

A woman sits on stage smiling, wearing a black long-sleeved top and patterned skirt, holding papers on her lap with a microphone clipped to her outfit. Do you want me to keep this in a neutral descriptive style (as above), or wo

“It’s very encouraging to receive recognition from the wider environmental science community than my immediate field of research,” Negin said. 

“It’s rewarding to know that our work is making a difference.”

Negin is a Scientia Associate Professor with the School of Built Environment at UNSW, and a Deputy Director and Chief Investigator with 21st Century Weather. 

She leads the Climate-Resilient Cities (CRC) research lab, a multidisciplinary team focused on tackling heat and air quality issues in cities. The group’s expertise includes mechanical engineering, climate science, architecture and advanced data analytics.

Internationally, Negin serves as a scientific advisor to the World Weather Research Programme, and chairs the Board on Urban Environment at the American Meteorological Society. 

She is a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, scheduled for release in March 2027. The report will combine the latest scientific evidence with practical solutions to confront the urgent challenges of urban climate change.

“As an urban climatologist, I am concerned about whether we have the right, fit-for-purpose tools and indicators to assess and respond to climate challenges in cities,” Negin said.

“Just as importantly, we need to ask if these tools are being incorporated effectively into policy and practice so that the unique interactions between climate change and cities ( and the people within them) are properly captured.”

As an urban climatologist, Negin examines how weather and climate interact with the built environment and how this affects urban residents.

One of the areas she is focused on is improving the accuracy of climate assessments for cities. Many current climate models do not adequately represent the unique characteristics of urban areas, which affects their accuracy and relevance.

“Many meteorological forecasts or long-term projections assume cities like Sydney are a big concrete slab, or flat soil, so the climate projections aren’t providing an accurate representation of our cities,” she said.

21st Century Weather’s former Deputy Director and Chief Investigator Nerilie Abram, who left the Centre to join the Australian Antarctic Program in August, was also recognised by AGU with the 2025 Cesare Emiliani Lecture.

To read more about this year’s AGU Awards and Lectures, go to: https://www.agu.org/honors-home/announcement/section-awards-lectures