Staff Profile

KILAPARTI RAMAKRISHNA

Preferred Name: Dr. Kilaparti Ramakrishna

Preferred Pronouns: he/him

Director of Marine Policy Center and Senior Advisor to the President on Ocean and Climate Policy

VISITING INVESTIGATOR

ADMINISTRATION

Email: kramakrishna@whoi.edu

Phone: 508 289 3061

Lab/Group Site: https://www.whoi.edu/what-we-do/understand/departmentns-centers-labs/mpc/

Some Info Kilaparti Ramakrishna (Rama) joined the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from October 2021 as the Senior Advisor to the President and Director on Ocean and Climate Policy. While he continues to hold this position, he was given additional charge of Director, a.i. of the Marine Policy Center with effect from November 1, 2022. Prior to this he had worked extensively with the United Nations, as Head of Strategic Planning at Green Climate Fund; head of the UNESCAP ENEA Office, covering six member States of ESCAP- China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Republic of Korea and Russian Federation, and two Associate members – Hong Kong and Macao; as Chief of Cross Sectoral Environmental Issues and Principal Policy Advisor to the Executive Director of UNEP. Dr. Ramakrishna also provided secretariat services to the North-East Asian Subregional Programme for Environmental Cooperation (NEASPEC) and was a lead author of the fifth assessment (and many before it) by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Before joining the United Nations, Dr. Ramakrishna worked for many years as director of science in public affairs and vice president at the Woods Hole Research Center (now Woodwell Climate Research Center) in Massachusetts. During this time, he taught at several law schools including at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Harvard Law School, Boston University and Boston College Law Schools, Brandeis and Yale Universities. He is an elected life member of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is also the Chair of Strategic Advisory Group of the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project, Member of the Advisory Board of Back to Blue – a global initiative of Economist Impact, and a Member of Board of Directors of the Woodwell Climate Research Center. Dr. Ramakrishna holds B.Sc and B.L degrees in sciences and law, masters and PhD degrees in international law.