Melania Guerra

Melania grew up dreaming of exploring extreme environments and protecting nature. She studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Costa Rica, and earned a Masters and Ph.D. in oceanography from the University of California San Diego (UCSD). She worked as a researcher at Cornell University and the University of Washington, performing extensive data collection across the Arctic Ocean. These research expeditions sparked a passion for the science-diplomacy interface. During 2018 she served as a Nippon Fellow at the United Nations’ Division of Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea (UN DOALOS), specializing in ocean governance and she completed a Master’s in public policy at Princeton University, focusing in international relations and science policy. Between 2017-2021 she was part of the Costa Rican diplomatic delegations in multilateral climate and ocean negotiations and later served as Director of Science Strategy at Planet Labs. Furthermore, in 2019 Melania represented Costa Rica in the Homeward Bound, a global leadership initiative for women in science that takes place in Antarctica.
Melania’s trajectory combines a multidisciplinary background in engineering, oceanography and public policy and has had a career working at the science-policy interface, providing broad systems-thinking perspectives and evidence-based strategy advice for environmental action. Her strengths include translating scientific knowledge for decision making, supporting multistakeholder groups and building strategic partnerships. Currently she is the Head of the Climate Science and Impacts team at Climate Analytics, based in Berlin.