Shobhakar Dhakal is the Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand since April 2021. In the past, he was Dean of the School of Environment, Resources and Development, and Head of the Department of Energy Environment and Climate Change of the Asian Institute of Technology. His main areas of expertise are in energy policy, climate change mitigation and policies, policy modelling and analysis, and cities and climate change. Dhakal was the Coordinating Lead Author of the Nobel Prize-winning Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change’s 5th Assessment Report for the Chapter on Human Settlements, Infrastructure and Spatial Planning, and 6th Assessment Report for the Chapter on Emissions Trends and Drivers. He was also a member of the author group that develop a recent UNEP led global scientific assessment titled Making Peace with Nature, launched by UN Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director in February 2021, led by Bob Watson and Ivar Andreas Baste.