Robert Devoy

Robert John Nettleton Devoy is an Irish geographer. He is an emeritus professor of geography at University College Cork and was one of the lead authors of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.

Early life and education

Devoy graduated with a 2:1 degree in geography from Durham University in 1973. His doctoral work, an analysis of sea-level changes and land subsidence on the Thames Estuary, was completed at Cambridge in 1977.

Career and research

Devoy moved to Cork to continue his research after graduating from Cambridge. In 1984 he was a visiting researcher at the University of Delaware and subsequently served as a visiting research fellow in Geomorphology at the Australian National University in 1987, and as a research fellow at the University of Sydney in 1990 and again from 1992 to 1993. This has included researching the implications of climate change on coastal erosion and water dynamics. He was a lead author on the Fourth IPCC Assessment Report, which led to the IPCC being awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Two years later he publicly criticised Cork flood defence plans, accusing the proposed scheme of being too reliant on an outdated study and not taking the threat of tidal flooding seriously enough.

Selected publications

Books

Journal articles