Eryn Gayle de Leon has just completed a Master of Climate Change (MCC) at ANU and is now working as a Program Officer for the Philippine Program with the Global Green Growth Institute, headquartered in Seoul.   

She explains why she decided to undertake the MCC and how it’s helped her:

“Climate change is an extremely important development issue for the Philippines. The Philippines is one of the most highly climate vulnerable countries in the world.

It is vital to have development professionals who are up to speed with the latest tools and know how to evaluate policies and strengthen institutions that will help drive inclusive adaptation.

Before completing a Master of Climate Change, I was a Researcher with Clean Air Asia, working with the key development and research agencies in Asia, such as World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the World Health Organization, on air pollution and emission mitigation issues.

The MCC program has broadened my understanding of the multiple dimensions of climate change and that’s really helped me in my current role. I’m now working with the Philippine Climate Change Commission on the Climate Resilient Green Growth Planning Project.   The project seeks to enhance climate change resilience and promote inclusive green growth development planning at a sub-national level.

The MCC program is different from other programs as it is uniquely inter-disciplinary.  It’s based on the latest scientific research and grounded in practitioner experiences. As well as having excellent research advisers and practical experts, I found the academic environment was really accommodating and supportive.

I chose to study at ANU because of its devotion to research excellence. Aside from this, ANU also has great partnerships with prestigious and renowned universities and research institutes worldwide.  I was able to participate in ETH Zurich’s Global Sustainability Summer School and United Nations University-Tokyo’s ‘Building Resilience against Climate Change’ short course.”

Eryn and co-author, Associate Professor Jamie Pittock, have just had an article published in Climate and Development.   Read more.