As a Professor of Sociology and Geography at the University of Oslo, Karen O’Brien has been working on climate change impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation research for over 25 years. This includes research on the implications of climate change for food security in Mexico, on the relationship between tropical deforestation and climate change, on the use of seasonal climate forecasts in southern Africa, and on the interactions between global environmental change and globalization processes, and the implications for human security. She has brought this interest and expertise to her work on the IPCC Fourth and Fifth Assessments, as well as the Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation.

She has written and co-edited numerous books about global environmental change, including A Changing Environment for Human Security and Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices.”