Faculty of Bioscience Engineering logo faculty

International Collen-Francqui Chair David Ellsworth

In the academic year 2022-2023, Ghent University and six Belgian partner universities invite Professor David Ellsworth as an international Francqui Chair because of his expertise on the science of climate change and land surface climate interactions across temperate and tropical regions.

About David EllsworthDavid Ellsworth

Prof. David S. Ellsworth (Western Sydney University) is a highly cited scientist in the field of ecology and the environment with a specific focus on climate change effects on plants and ecosystems.

He leads a cutting-edge team of scientists who seek to understand how plants function in relation to the environment they live in, and how they respond to climate stresses such as heat and rising atmospheric CO2. At Western Sydney, Prof. Ellsworth is science leader of the Eucalyptus Free-Air CO2 Enrichment facility, the world’s largest CO2 enrichment experiment on a mature forest ecosystem.

Prof. Ellsworth has been on the faculties of the University of Vermont, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Duke University and the University of Michigan in the USA, and he’s been Professor of Tree Physiology at Western Sydney University in Australia for the past 15 years where he has led multiple large-scale climate change and elevated CO2 experiments.

Ellsworth’s research has been filmed by the BBC and ABC and has been quoted in Sydney’s Sun Herald, The Age, The Guardian, the Washington Post and the New York Times amongst other media outlets.

Inaugural lecture

“To save or squander: how should we manage our natural capital under climate change?”

7 September 2022, 16:00 - Aula Ghent University

Closing symposium

“Natural Capital Research for the coming decade”

8 December 2022, 9.00 - Ghent University, Het Pand

Half-day program

  • 9.00 - Welcome with coffee
  • 9.30 - Opening (Prof. Hans Verbeeck)
  • 9.40 - Four student pitches: outcomes of the classes of excellence
  • 10.00 - Presentation of the vision and white paper on Natural Capital Research (Prof. David Ellsworth)
  • 10.20 - Introduction to the new Belgian Climate Centre (co-director Ella Jasmin)
  • 10.30 - Interactive session with discussion tables
  • 12.30 - Take home message & closing
  • 13.00 - Lunch

Classes of excellence

During the International Collen-Francqui Chair of David Ellsworth, we organize six classes of excellence within the context of managing our natural capital under climate change.

    Hosted by the Natural Capital platform of the faculty of Bioscience Engineering at Ghent University.