Richard J Dawson

Richard J. Dawson is a British civil engineer and academic who is Professor of Earth Systems Engineering at Newcastle University. His work focuses on climate risk, infrastructure resilience, and water security.

Education Dawson holds a Master of Engineering (MEng) degree in Civil Engineering with study in France and a PhD from the University of Bristol, completed in 2003. In 2010, he was a visiting researcher at Arizona State University.

From 2017 to 2020, Dawson served as Group Head for Water within the School of Engineering at Newcastle University, and in 2020, he was appointed Director of Research and Innovation for the School. He also served as Associate Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research from 2015 to 2025.

In 2025, Dawson was appointed to the Science and Technology Advisory Council of the UK Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

Research Dawson's research focuses on the assessment and management of climate-related risks to urban areas, infrastructure, and the built environment. His work combines engineering and environmental systems modelling and is often conducted in collaboration with policymakers and international organisations.

He served as Director of the UKRI GCRF Water Security Hub, an £18 million initiative that applied a systems-based approach to address global water security challenges. His contributions include national-scale flood risk assessments in the United Kingdom, the development of models for infrastructure resilience analysis, and frameworks for evaluating water security in international catchments.

Dawson has worked on the integration of climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies at the urban scale. He led the EPSRC-funded iBUILD programme, which developed methodologies for valuing infrastructure resilience and informed UK government guidance.

From 2019 to 2025, Dawson was a member of the Adaptation Committee of the UK's Climate Change Committee. He also acted as a technical expert to the National Infrastructure Commission between 2016 and 2023.

Dawson contributed to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report as a lead author for Chapter 6 on Cities, Settlements and Key Infrastructure, and as coordinating lead author for the Cross-Chapter Paper on Cities and Settlements by the Sea.

Awards and honours Queen’s Anniversary Prize in Higher and Further Education for water security research (2024) Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (2023) Lloyd’s of London Science of Risk Prize (2012) EPSRC Fellowship (2010–2015) Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (FICE) and a Chartered Engineer (CEng)

Selected publications