Kendra Gotangco GONZALES

Dr. C. Kendra Gotangco Gonzales was appointed as a member of the WCRP Joint Scientific Committee (JSC) starting 1 January 2025.

Dr. C. Kendra Gotangco Gonzales is currently a Research Fellow at the Fenner School of Environment and Society of the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. She recently joined the extended secretariat of the Earth Commission.

Kendra has been involved in the World Climate Research Programme in a variety of ways, such as: serving on the Working Group for Regional Climate, acting as a focal point for Southeast Asia for the Climate Research Forums, facilitating building block discussions for the Regional Information for Society Core Project, establishing the My Climate Risk Hub at the Ateneo, and serving on the Scientific Steering Group and Education Working Group of the My Climate Risk Lighthouse Activity.

Kendra also holds an appointment as Associate Professor at the Dept. of Environmental Science of the Ateneo de Manila University. She served as the Program Manager for Climate Change and Disaster Risk at the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability before becoming Director of the institute in 2021-2024. Concurrently, she served as the Leadership Council Chair of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN Philippines). Following an undergraduate degree in BS Physics, Minor in Philosophy from the Ateneo de Manila University, she completed a joint Master of Environmental Management Degree from the Ateneo and the University of San Francisco, and a PhD in Earth and Atmospheric Science from Purdue University.

Currently, Kendra's work relates to the planetary boundaries and the earth system boundaries. She has broad interests in sustainability, climate and disaster resilience, earth system science specifically on the interactions of land cover and climate, and on relevant applications of systems thinking and system dynamics modeling.