Joseph Alcamo is a Professor of Environmental System Science as well as Director of , at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom.
The Sussex Sustainability Research Programme (SSRP) consists of more than 20 interdisciplinary research projects focusing on interlinkages between the SDGs in 14 low- and middle-income countries. Prior to assuming his position at Sussex, Prof. Alcamo served as Chief Scientist of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), where he worked to strengthen the interface between global science and policy. He also played a strategic role as Special Science Advisor to the Head of the UN Climate Secretariat during the final phase of negotiating the Paris Climate Agreement. Later, he was Executive Director of the Center for Environmental Systems Research and Professor of Environmental Systems Science and Engineering at the University of Kassel, Germany. In 1998, Alcamo was awarded the prestigious Max Planck Research Prize for physics and geoscience, in connection with his contributions to global environmental modelling, and the use of global models in international policy. He has published numerous articles and books on environmental research, many of them focusing on the modelling of environmental changes and the effects of global warming.