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. The thesis itself 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 with Don Henry, and briefly with Malte Meinshausen. This research examined the climate politics and policy of the 10 countries that the former US Vice President, the Hon Al Gore, believed to be 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 with Richard Eccleston on subnational climate and energy policy. Since 2018, Ben has been working on a book that examines the relationship between the climate action agenda and the Responsibility to Protect agenda (a conflict/atrocity prevention and response framework). It will be published in November 2023.
Much of Ben’s professional experience has been at the academic-policy interface, working with government, business and civil society from a university setting.