Hans Joachim ('John') Schellnhuber currently serves as the twelfth IIASA director general. Prior to joining IIASA he led the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) from 1992 to 2018 as their founding director. He also served as research director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in Great Britain from 2001 to 2005.
Since 2019, Schellnhuber has been focusing his scientific work and communication skills on the transformation of the built environment, with a specific emphasis on the climate restoration potential of regenerative architecture. In this context, he established Bauhaus Earth as a not-for-profit company and became a member of the High-Level Roundtable of the New European Bauhaus initiative. In addition, he acted as a scientific advisor to a number of eminent public and religious leaders, institutions, and government bodies and contributed in various ways to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
Schellnhuber studied physics and mathematics at the University of Regensburg, where he also completed his doctorate in quantum physics. Following a postdoctoral position at the Institute for Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara, he held full professorships at the Universities of Oldenburg and Potsdam, as well as at the University of East Anglia in Norwich.
He has published some 300 scientific articles and books and is listed as a Highly Cited Researcher (Cross Field) by Clarivate.