I am currently working on a book about the history of systems thinking for global problems, focussed on the life of Dana Meadows, author of The Limits to Growth. Until 2024 I am a research associate on the Leverhulme-funded Making Climate History project at the University of Cambridge, where I am working on the history of global temperature. I also serve as a facilitator for the Oxford Scenario Planning Programme.
My most recent book is a history of the idea of global climate titled Waters of the World: The Story of the Scientists Who Unravelled the Mysteries of our Seas, Glaciers and Atmosphere–and Made the Planet Whole (Scribe UK/University of Chicago Press, 2019). I have also written a history of Isaac Newton's manuscripts and a biography of Marie Curie, and co-edited a volume on epidemics and governance. I am currently a trustee of The Oxford Trust and am a former trustee of the Science Museum Group.