Professor Wilson was appointed Deputy Vice Chancellor Research in February 2024. Professor Wilson also holds a number of national- and international-level strategic research and academic appointments. Prior to coming to the University of Waikato, he was Chief Scientist and General Manager Research Strategy and Partnerships at GNS Science. He also previously held the role of Chief Science Advisor to the New Zealand Antarctic Programme and academic appointments at the University of Otago, the University of Oxford, and The Ohio State University.

Professor Wilson’s research is highly collaborative and involved working with experts in economics, sociology, mātauranga Māori, and politics to advance our understanding of earth’s climate system and carbon cycle and generating a wider, science based and mode effective response to that. Current research programmes include international research investigating the changing carbon emission from warming frozen ground in Antarctica and the science and economics of changing carbon burial in New Zealand fiords.

Professor Wilson also holds a number of Governance roles. He is a Trustee of the Sir Peter Blake Trust, Chair of the Royal Society Te Apārangi National Committee on Antarctic Sciences and President of the International Science Council Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), In 2024 he completed his term as Chair of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Programme (ICDP). In 2021, he was awarded the Thomson Medal by the Royal Society Te Apārangi for his leadership in developing New Zealand’s international profile in Antarctic Research.