James Skea


James Ferguson Skea CBE FRSA, also known as Jim Skea, is a Scottish academic, Professor of Sustainable Energy at Imperial College London's Centre for Environmental Policy, and a member of the Bureau of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the British government's Committee on Climate Change. He was a co-author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change October 8, 2018 Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC.

Early life and education

The son of Colin Hill Skea and Margaret Ferguson Skea, he was educated at the Grove Academy, Broughty Ferry, then at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated BSc in Mathematical Physics with first class Honours, and finally at Clare College, Cambridge, where he gained his PhD in Physics at Cavendish Laboratory in 1979.

Career

In 1978 Skea became a research assistant in the Cavendish Laboratory, where he remained until 1981, then went to Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as a research associate, 1981–1983, a research fellow, 1983–1994, and a professorial fellow, 1994–1998. He was director of the Global Environmental Change Programme of the Economic and Social Research Council from 1995 to 1998, then was at the Policy Studies Institute from 1998 to 2004, and at the UK Energy Research Centre, 2004–2012. He has held an appointment as Professor of Sustainable Energy at the Centre for Environmental Policy in London since 2009, and since 2012 has been a fellow of the Research Councils UK Energy Programme, Imperial College London.
Skea has also served as a non-executive director of Blackrock New Energy Investment Trust Plc since 2009 and has been a member of the Committee on Climate Change and of the Bureau of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since 2008. He is also vice-president of the Energy Institute and sits on the advisory board of the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie-Mellon University.
He was a co-author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change October 8, 2018 Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC.

Private life

In 1976, Skea married Jane Howley, and they had one son and one daughter. His marriage ended in divorce in 2001 and he is now the partner of Hilary Ann Ougham and lives in Brighton. In Who's Who he states his recreations as "walking the South Downs, mountain biking, losing keys".

Honours