Katherine Richardson ^(US/DK)

Dr. Katherine Richardson’s research is to better understand the role of biological processes and biodiversity on the cycling of carbon in the upper ocean and how this impacts food webs and the global carbon cycle.

Essentially, Richardson’s research both within biological oceanography and in relation to the Planetary Boundaries focuses on understanding the interactions between the Geosphere and the Biosphere, as it is these interactions than have been the internal drivers of Earth system state throughout the history of the Earth.

Dr. Richardson pioneering contributions have been instrumental in shaping global sustainability efforts. She is the core developer of the Planetary Boundaries Framework that attempts to identify how much of specific Earth System Services that can “safely” be appropriated by humans and the led writer on the paper Planetary Boundaries –The study was published in Science Advances and has now been downloaded for nearly 600.000 times.

Richardson is leading the Queen Margrethe’s and Vigdís Finnbogadóttir’s Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Ocean, Climate, and Society (ROCS).