Rate My Professor Paul Beggs

Professor Paul Beggs is an environmental health scientist and Professor in the School of Natural Sciences within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Macquarie University. He earned his BSc with Honours in Biology and Microclimatology and a PhD in Geography from the same institution. His research specializations encompass the impacts of climate change on human health, with a particular emphasis on allergens and allergic diseases. Additional academic interests include aerobiology—focusing on airborne particles such as pollen and fungal spores—and the role of weather and climate in their variability and effects on human health, as well as interactions between the atmospheric environment and living organisms.

Beggs has a distinguished career marked by key appointments such as Director of the Lancet Countdown Oceania Regional Centre, Past President of the International Society of Biometeorology (2008-2011), and current President of the International Association for Aerobiology (2024-2026). He served as a contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fourth Assessment Report (2007), sharing in the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the IPCC. Among his major awards are the 2009 Eureka Prize for Medical Research, the 2023 Public Health Association of Australia Tony McMichael Public Health Ecology and Environment Award (for the Lancet Countdown Oceania Regional Centre), Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society (2023), and the 2023 Faculty of Science and Engineering Excellence Award for Research Collaboration. He has produced 178 research outputs and supervised 30 higher degree research candidates to completion. Key publications include "Disparities in health and climate change research funding: the funders and the funded" (Journal of Climate Change and Health, 2026), "Lessons from automatic airborne pollen monitoring by holography at three Australian sites" (Aerobiologia, 2026), "Climate change, airborne allergens, and three translational research challenges" (eBioMedicine, 2023), and "Aerobiology matters: why people in the community access pollen information and how they use it" (Clinical and Translational Allergy, 2025). Beggs contributes editorially to journals such as Aerobiologia and Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, and holds committee roles including membership in the Environmental Health Expert Advisory Group of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. His influence extends through teaching units like ENVS3102 Urban Climate and Air Quality and extensive media engagement with 84 press contributions.