Rowan Ellis

Rowan Ellis is a geographer and Assistant Teaching Professor of Science. She specializes in water and food security, climate change, and nature-based solutions. Her current research interests focus on ‘unconventional’ water resources and the environmental impacts and transboundary governance challenges that arise from climate adaptations. Professor Ellis has extensive field research experience in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Northern Europe. She led projects that brought together social and natural scientists, policy makers, and communities in the context of water resources planning, catchment management, and agricultural sustainability. Professor Ellis has published widely on issues of water and climate, food and farming, and public participation in environmental management. Her research appears in the Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, Journal of Water Process Engineering, International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, and Global Food Security, among others.

Prior to joining Georgetown in 2024, Professor Ellis worked at the science-policy interface for The James Hutton Institute in Scotland as part of the Scottish Government’s Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture strategic research program. Professor Ellis was also a Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in the Institute of Geography from 2012-2016, and held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Aberdeen in the School of Geosciences from 2009-2012. Professor Ellis holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Washington in Seattle.