Sandy Harrison is a Professor of Palaeoclimates and Biogeochemical Cycles and Director of the Centre for Past Climate Change at the University of Reading in the UK, and also a Professor in Ecology and Evolution Centre for Research Excellence at Macquarie University, Australia. She studied geography at the University of Cambridge, did her Masters in Geomorphology at Macquarie University and a PhD at the University of Lund in Sweden. Professor Harrison is a palaeoclimate diagnostician with a special interest in the role of the land-surface, terrestrial biosphere, fire and hydrological processes on modulating regional climates. She uses large-scale syntheses of data in combination with global models to diagnose these interactions. She is President of the Palaeoclimate Commission of the International Quaternary Association (INQUA) and Co-Chair of the Palaeoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP), where she leads the effort to evaluate climate models. She is also Chair of the Scientific Committee of the World Data System (WDS) of the International Council for Science (ICSU).