Congratulations to Environment's newest University Professor
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Dr. Daniel Scott, professor and research chair in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, has been named a University Professor. Conferred by the University of ݮƵ, this rare and prestigious recognition celebrates professors of international acclaim for their exceptional scholarly contributions.
Dr. Scott has worked extensively on sustainable tourism for 25 years, with a focus on the transition to a low carbon tourism economy and adaptation to the complex impacts of a changing climate. This research also examines government and business climate change mitigation and adaptation policy and planning, as well as consumer responses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while on holiday.
His work has led him to advise and lead projects for a wide range of government agencies and tourism organizations around the world, including the United Nations World Tourism Organization, United Nations Environment Programme, World Bank, International Olympic Committee, OECD, World Travel and Tourism Council, European Tourism Commission, the Caribbean Tourism Organization. He has also been a contributor to multiple reports of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
In 2021, he was ranked in the world top 300 climate scientists by Reuters.His tourism research publications have been downloaded over a half million times and have been featured in many leading media outlets including The Economist, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, BBC, Time, Scientific American, and National Geographic.
Dr. Scott has been instrumental in designing, directing, and teaching climate change courses and programs at ݮƵ, advising on climate programming at other universities, and supervising graduate students who have become leaders in their own right. For example, the Master of Climate Change was the first and only professional climate change masters in Ontario for a decade and is still Environment’s graduate program with the highest enrollment. Dr. Scott also played a leadership role in the development of a Type 3 Diploma in Climate Risk Management (for mid-career professionals) and the new Type 2 Diploma in Climate Change open to every graduate student at the University of ݮƵ. In recognition of his foresight and innovation in climate change education, Dr. Scott will be taking on a new administrative position in 2025 as Environment’s first Strategic Director for Climate Change, working across the Faculty and University to enhance and build climate change research and teaching at ݮƵ.
“Dr. Scott’s record stands solidly on its own merits,” Dr. Bruce Frayne, Dean of the Faculty of Environment says. “He demonstrates global leadership as a climate change scholar not only through the volume of publications, number of citations, and distinctions and awards he has earned, but by the impact he has had on local, provincial, national and global policy directions, public knowledge and motivation to address climate change, and climate change education and graduate supervision.”
Dr. Scott joins two other Faculty of Environment educators and researchers, Dr. Jennifer Clapp and Dr. Ellsworth LeDrew, who also hold the designation of University Professor.
Congratulations Dr. Scott on this impressive honour!
About the designation
The University of ݮƵ owes much of its international reputation and stature to the quality of its eminent professors and recognizes exceptional scholarly achievement and international pre-eminence through the designation 'University Professor'. Once appointed, a faculty member retains the designation until retirement.
Not counting retirees, it is anticipated there will be one University Professor for approximately every 60 full-time regular faculty members, with at most two appointments each year. Such appointments are reported to Senate and the Board of Governors in March and April respectively.
