Simon Redfern is President's Chair in Earth Sciences at the Asian School of the Environment and Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). A mineralogist and geochemist by training, he connects the properties of Earth materials with pressing challenges in climate mitigation and sustainable development.

He completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge in 1989, held a lectureship at the University of Manchester, and returned to Cambridge in 1994, rising to professor of mineral physics and then Head of the Department of Earth Sciences from 2016 to 2019. He remains an Emeritus Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. From 2019 to 2025 he was Dean of the College of Science of NTU Singapore.

His research focuses on harnessing natural silicate mineral weathering to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at scale. He investigates enhanced rock weathering and ocean alkalinity enhancement as carbon removal pathways, combining field measurements, geochemical modelling, and machine learning to constrain rates, permanence, and co-benefits for agriculture and ecosystems. Much of this work is oriented towards tropical and Southeast Asian environments, where the potential for integration with food systems and land management is significant. He is co-founder of Carbonsynk, a spin-off developing robust monitoring, reporting, and verification frameworks for carbon removal in the voluntary carbon market.

Beyond carbon removal, he contributes to broader sustainability science through work on the geochemical cycling of nutrients, the role of big data and AI in tracking environmental change, and the development of science-based tools to support progress towards Sustainable Development Goals.

He is a Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America and the Geological Society of London, and the sole recipient of both the Max Hey and Schlumberger Medals of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and recipient of the European Mineralogical Society's Medal for Research Excellence.