Professor Tim Lenton is a leading climate and Earth‑system scientist who holds the Chair in Climate Change and Earth System Science at the University of Exeter and is the founding Director of its Global Systems Institute 

His academic journey began with a first‑class Natural Sciences degree from Cambridge, followed by a PhD at the University of East Anglia under Andrew Watson, where he investigated marine nutrient cycles and atmospheric oxygen regulation 

Early in his career, Lenton developed coupled carbon–climate models and led the GENIE Earth‑system modelling suite 

Over the past 25 years, his research has focused on climate tipping points—thresholds where small changes can trigger large, often irreversible shifts—and he helped define the 1.5 °C climate target and planetary boundaries framework 

Lenton’s work on “positive tipping points” explores how accelerating beneficial societal and technological shifts, like plant‑based diets and clean energy adoption, could trigger cascade effects toward sustainability 

His contributions have been recognised with awards such as the Philip Leverhulme Prize, European Geosciences Union Outstanding Young Scientist Award, a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award, and he’s a Fellow of multiple learned societies, as well as an ISI Highly Cited Researcher.