Patt, Anthony

Biography

Anthony Patt has been Full Professor of Human-Environment Systems at the Institute for Environmental Decisions since August 2013. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts (USA) in 1965. Anthony Patt first earned a bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Landscape Design at Yale University, which he completed with a Juris Doctor from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. After a few years practicing as a lawyer and consultant in environmental and policy issues, he applied to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he received a Master in Public Policy and in 2001 his doctorate. From 2000 to 2006 he worked as Assistant Professor at Boston University, with stays as visiting fellow at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the Hanse Institute for Advanced Studies in Delmenhorst, Germany. From 2006 he worked at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria, where he headed the research group Decisions and Governance as well as a greenhouse gas initiative. Since 2007 he also holds guest lectures at the University of Bayreuth.

Research Interest

Professor Patt’s research addresses questions related to climate change policy. His focus is on adaption to climate change and the resultant costs for society, as well as on analyzing the benefits of different energy systems. His group collects and analyses data on people’s beliefs, attitudes and decisions, and examines on the basis of models how human, technical and natural elements interact. Anthony Patt won a competition for an ERC grant in 2012 for his work on solar energy.