Max van Deursen is the Managing Director of the Secretariat of the International Panel on Earth System Governance (IPESG), hosted at Utrecht University. The IPESG will conduct the first-ever large-scale, science-based assessment of the effectiveness of earth system governance, drawing on the expertise of hundreds of scholars from around the world.

Max has a background in global climate governance research. His PhD critically examined the role of transparency in the global climate regime. His interdisciplinary, mixed-methods research includes in-depth case studies in India and South Africa, and his publications have appeared in leading journals such as Climate Policy andTransnational Environmental Law.

Over the past decade, Max has worked across the global climate governance landscape in various capacities, including as a youth representative, consultant, and academic. He has engaged extensively with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and continuously seeks to bridge science and policy.