Welcome to the personal website of Ben L. Parr
Ben is a political scientist who specialises in climate politics and policy.
In 2015, he was awarded a PhD from the University of Melbourne. His thesis examined Australian climate and energy policy and diplomacy during the Howard and Rudd years. During his candidature (2009-2015), he worked on climate-related projects with David Karoly, Peter Christoff, and Robyn Eckersley (PhD supervisor); as well as on a variety of topics with Gareth Evans. Between 2015 and 2018, he worked as Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Sustainable Society Institute with Don Henry, and briefly at the Energy Transition Hub with Malte Meinshausen. This research examined the politics and policy of the 10 countries that the former US Vice President, the Hon Al Gore, believed key to achieving the Paris Agreement goals. In 2019, Ben published a book based on his PhD research with a new period of analysis, the Gillard and Abbott years. Between 2020 and 2022, he worked at the University of Tasmania’s Policy Exchange (Hub) with Richard Eccleston on subnational climate and energy policy. Between 2018 and 2023, he researched and wrote a book on relationship between climate change and the Responsibility to Protect (a conflict/atrocity prevention and response framework). It was published in November 2023 (hardcopy January 2024).
He currently works as Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland-based Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect.
Much of Ben’s professional experience has been at the academic-policy interface, working with government, industry and civil society from a university setting.