Dr Mark Stafford Smith is recently retired from CSIRO—Australia’s national research organisation—where he had been overseeing a highly interdisciplinary program of research on many aspects of adaptation to climate change. He continues as a CSIRO Honorary Fellow, and in several international roles, including as a senior advisor to the chair of the Global Environment Facility's Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel in Washington. In Australia, he contributes to Future Earth Australia on sustainability issues, the Outback Alliance on policy for remote areas, and the Global Drylands Ecosystem Program network. Mark has over 30 years of research experience and over 200 peer-reviewed contributions. His significant international roles include being the former vice-chair of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme’s Scientific Committee, co-chair of the 2012 Planet Under Pressure: New Knowledge Towards Solutions conference in the lead up to Rio+20, and Chair (2013–2017) of the inaugural Science Committee for Future Earth.