ProfessorDan Penny

Professor Dan Penny is an physical geographer and palaeoecologist whose research explores how ecological and social systems respond to long-term environmental stress. He uses geological and biological archives to reconstruct past climates, ecosystems, and human activities, linking deep-time processes to contemporary challenges of resilience and sustainability. His work on the environmental history of tropical urbanism — notably at Angkor in Cambodia and in the Maya lowlands — has reshaped understanding of how cities adapt to climatic and infrastructural change. More recently, Penny has extended this perspective to modern urban ecosystems, analysing how ecological novelty, social agency, and environmental governance interact in cities under climate pressure. He has led multi-institutional, interdisciplinary collaborations across Asia, Australia, and the Americas, and brings a unique capacity to integrate environmental history, urban ecology, and socio-ecological systems thinking to address global challenges in urban resilience and ecological function.