Dr Melania Guerra

Dr Melania Guerra is the Head of the Climate Science and Impacts team working out of Climate Analytics' Berlin office.

Previously, Melania worked as a consultant providing expert science policy advice for the design, implementation and evaluation of climate action and ocean conservation initiatives, including international cooperation and science diplomacy strategies.

Melania has also been part of the Costa Rican diplomatic delegations in multilateral climate and ocean negotiations and served as Director of Science Strategy at Planet Labs. In 2018 she served as a Nippon Fellow at the United Nations’ Division of Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea (UN DOALOS), specialising in ocean governance. 

As an academic, she worked as a researcher at Cornell University and the University of Washington and conducted extensive fieldwork across the Arctic Ocean investigating the impacts from man-made noise sources (like oil and gas exploration and shipping traffic) on marine species, among other topics. During her work in this vulnerable climate ecosystem and geopolitical hotspot, she discovered a passion for science diplomacy.

She holds a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Costa Rica, and a Masters and Ph.D. from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography within the University of California San Diego. She also holds a Master’s in Public Policy at Princeton University, focusing on international relations and science policy.