Dr Cécile Girardin

About

Dr Cécile Girardin is a scientist and an artist. Dr Girardin trained as an Ecosystems Scientist at the University of Oxford and Imperial College, and has over 15 years of field experience: working in tropical forests, managing international teams, leading scientific publications, training students, and facilitating discussions on translating science into policy and action (eg. REDD+, Nature-based Solutions).

Dr Girardin combines years of experience in climate change policy analysis with a background in tropical ecology and thorough understanding of forest ecosystem functioning to provide a unique multidisciplinary approach to her work. Her research focuses on the potential for Nature-based Solutions to respond to climate change. She is an expert on the ecosystem functioning and carbon dynamics of tropical forests across the globe, and their response to a rapidly changing climate.

As the Science Lead of the Oxford Biodiversity Network, Dr Girardin works with teams across 20 departments and institutes to ensure the effective organisation, innovation, funding, and impact of biodiversity-related research across the University. She also manages the Global Ecosystems Monitoring network’s database, providing data gathering and analysis support to the 70+ permanent plots scattered across the globe. She is Technical Director of the Nature-based Solutions Initiative and Founding Director of Nature Based Insetting Ltd, a spin out of Oxford University Innovation.

Over the past five years, Dr Girardin has published widely on the effects of climate change on tropical forest ecosystems. As Technical Director of Oxford University’s Nature-based Solutions Initiative, Dr Girardin works with an interdisciplinary team to translate science-based evidence on Nature-based Solutions to decision makers.

As an artist, Dr Girardin has produced murals, animations, and a wide range of professional illustrations for UN Biodiversity, iied, Oxford University Press, Global Canopy Programme, and Sumatran Orangutan Society, and Oxford University, to name a few. Her portfolio is available here.