Prof. Benjamin HORTON

Professor Benjamin Horton is the Dean of the School of Energy and Environment (SEE) at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK). Prior to becoming Dean at SEE, he was the Director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore and a Professor in Earth Science at the Asian School of the Environment in Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He has been appointed the AXA Chair in Natural Hazards.

Professor Horton was Professor in Marine Science at Rutgers University and Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He obtained his BA with honors from the University of Liverpool, UK, and his PhD from the University of Durham, UK.

Professor Horton has won several awards in his career. In both 2019 and 2025, he was appointed to the President’s Chair in Earth Sciences at NTU and CityUHK, respectively,  in recognition of his outstanding achievements. For his excellence in research, he received the Plinius Medal from the European Geosciences Union, the Voyager Award from the American Geophysical Union, and the W. Storrs Cole Award from the Geological Society of America. He was also elected Fellow of the Geological Society of America and the American Geophysical Union.

Professor Horton is distinguished for his research into sea-level change, significantly enhancing our understanding of the mechanisms that have determined sea-level changes in the Earth’s past, and which will shape such changes in the future. By developing new quantitative models of sea-level change and through leadership of major international research teams he has been able to formulate and test models of sea-level change in Europe, North America and Asia in both current and future climate change scenarios. His assessment of the timing of sea-level events, and the rates of sea-level rise and fall, has challenged paradigms and set up significant new research directions in the field. Investigation of how carbon storage and coastal ecosystem stability are affected by sea-level rise have further established him as a leader in the field and to become a significant contributor to climate science communication in wider society.

Professor Horton’s leadership in the sea-level science has led to invitations to contribute to the activities of the two major bodies assessing global climate change, the Conference of the Parties (COP) and IPCC. Similarly, he has been called upon to provide advice and evidence to politicians, government agencies and businesses, both in Singapore and elsewhere. Professor Horton has recently been an invited speaker in Singapore to the Singapore Supreme Court Bench and The World Bank. Internationally Professor Horton was invited to the Arctic Council in Germany, Russia, and Norway to present his research.

Professor Horton has published over 270 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 12 books or edited volumes. He has published over 40 articles in high profile journals such as Science, Nature, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Professor Horton is supervising or has supervised 27 students to the degree of PhD and 23 postdoctoral scientists, of which 20 now have permanent academic positions.  His H-index is 86 and he has >20,000 citations. Professor Horton has been awarded $71 million in research funding.