Dr Rachel Huxley is Head of Mitigation for Climate and Health at the Wellcome Trust. She joined Wellcome Trust in August 2023 to lead the research programme which supports science and evidence generation of the health co-benefits of mitigation in order to drive low-carbon, health positive policy and action.

Prior to the Wellcome Trust, Rachel was Director of Knowledge and Research at C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. During her time at C40, she developed and led a priority programme of research on the various benefits of urban climate action and also launched the C40’s flagship Knowledge Hub. Simultaneously, Dr Huxley led research for C40’s Centre for City Climate Policy and Economy. Another role included Deputy Editor-in-Chief for the Centre’s associated Journal.

Before C40, Dr Huxley was Chief Executive of Peterborough Environment City Trust. She led the Trust’s work on sustainable behaviour change and engagement project delivery and, engaged strategically with city partners to develop a sustainable city plan. As part of her work on sustainable cities, Dr Huxley established and led the Sustainable Cities Network. It is an informal network of leading UK cities to enable sharing best practices and challenges. She obtained a PhD from the University of Leeds, where her study focused on the processes and practices of sustainable transition and decision making in cities.

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