Christopher Scott

Christopher Scott is an interdisciplinary scholar working on water, energy and food security, the water-energy nexus, science-policy dialogues, irrigation and food security, water reuse, and climate adaptation. He serves/d as:

+ Chair, National Academies Consensus Study on Sustainability Partnerships in the U.S.-Mexico Drylands Region, U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering & Medicine; Mexican Academy of Science

+ Mountain Chair, ICIMOD - Himalayan Universities Consortium, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (2020-22)

+ Fulbright Scholar - IANIGLA-CONICET, Argentina (2021-22)

+ Fellow, International Water Resources Association (2020- )

+ Fellow, Leshner Public Engagement Institute, American Association for Advancement of Science (2018-19)

His applied research emphasizes the importance of science-policy dialogues with particular attention to ecosystem services, groundwater depletion, and transboundary adaptive management. Outside the academy, he has worked fifteen years for NGOs, government agencies, and applied-research institutes, contributing to water policy formulation and implementation. He has lived and worked five years in Latin America and six years in India (in addition to his schooling). He speaks Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, and Nepali.

His sustained efforts to effect policy impact via dialogue between decision-makers and scientists have gained acclaim in the U.S. and internationally. He is founding co-director of the AQUASEC Center of Excellence for Water Security (aquasec.org), a virtual center and network of researchers and decision-makers, which he established in 2011 at the invitation of the Inter- American Institute for Global Change Research).

He served as International Scientific Committee Chair of the XIV World Water Congress (worldwatercongress.com) in 2011 in Brazil. He is a member of numerous scientific associations and has provided programmatic reviews for the National Science Foundation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), World Bank, European donors, and others.

Dr. Scott was the first India Director of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) from 2001-05, and has worked extensively in India and Nepal, including on the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food.