Professor Carlos Duarte is one of the world’s top climate scientists. In the October edition of The Marine Biologist magazine, we are proud to present an exclusive interview with Professor Duarte. As the man who coined the term ‘blue carbon’, we couldn’t hope for a better guide to the theme of this special edition.
How would you describe your approach to carrying out research, and what shaped it?
In 42 years of research, I haven’t really had a single approach. I was driven by curiosity and identifying gaps in knowledge. By training I’m highly self-critical, but also critical of knowledge in general and I learned early on that we can only advance science through exercising constructive criticism. I’m often not satisfied with current models, or theories and explanations for phenomena, and I try to challenge them. Over the last decade of my career, I have focused on research to tackle humanity’s grand challenges.
Why don’t you specialize?
I hold a PhD, which stands for Doctor of Philosophy. I am endowed with the tools—effectively the scientific method—to address relevant questions in any domain of science that I am drawn to by curiosity or my desire to generate solutions to pressing problems.
The Marine Biologist Magazine
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