Dr Susanne Lorenz

Profile

I am a lecturer in Climate Change Adaptation at the Sustainability Research Institute in the School of Earth and Environment and have almost 15 years of experience on working in the field of climate change adaptation, both in research and in practice. 

Prior to joining the University as a lecturer, I have most recently worked for an international consultancy on climate risk, resilience and adaptation. In that role, I worked with a variety of different private and public sector clients and stakeholders across the UK focusing on supporting these organisation by undertaking climate risk and vulnerability assessments, developing adaptation plans and providing capacity building and training on climate risk and adaptation. I was also the UK lead for developing the consultancy’s service offering to clients on aligning to the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD), leading a number of projects and supporting diverse clients with internal upskilling on TCFD, undertaking climate scenario analyis and risk assessments, as well as preparing TCFD disclosure statements. I worked across a variety of sectors including professional services, buildings, food and drinks, highways and local government. 

In my early career, I worked in Local Government in the UK. I led the climate risk assessment process in two different county councils, helping the different services within the organisation to understand their exposure to climate change, identify the possible risks and develop potential adaptation actions. I further developed my experience with Local Government, in my recent role in consultancy, working with a variety of different local authorities on climate risk, adaptation and resilience. I led climate risk assessment processes, developed climate adaptation action plans, provided training to emergency planners, risk and sustainability officers, and helped local governments with their reporting to the Global Covenant of Mayors and the Carbon Disclosure Project. 

Responsibilities

• Co-Lead for the Climate Change Adaptation, Vulnerability and Services Research Group
• Joint Programme Leader for the MSc Climate Futures: Science, Society and Politics

Research interests

I am an interdisciplinary researcher and particularly enjoy applied and practice-relevant research. 

My research interests include:

• understanding and facilitating organisational progress on climate adaptation
• understanding the demand for and use of climate information in adaptation decision-making
• trialling and improving the visual communication of climate data to enable more effective tailoring of climate services
• examining the impact of legislative and regulatory drivers on climate adaptation

Qualifications

• PhD, Communicating, tailoring and using climate projections in adaptation planning [Leeds]
• MSc, Sustainability (Climate Change) [Leeds]
• BA (Hons), Politics and Italian [Bath]

Student education

I am a joint Programme Leader for the MSc Climate Futures: Science, Society and Politics and teach on climate-facing modules and programmes across the School of Earth and Environment. 

I currently teach on the following modules:

• Social and Political Dimensions of the Climate Challenge
• Engaging with Climate Change: Capstone Project
• Climate Risk
• Climate and Environmental Policy and Governance 

I also supervise Undergraduate and Masters research dissertations on a variety of different topics. 

Research groups and institutes

• Climate Change Adaptation, Vulnerability and Services
• Sustainability Research Institute