Prof Rebecca Garland has a background in atmospheric chemistry, with a focus on air quality and climate change, and science-policy linkages. Her research focus is on improving the understanding of air quality and atmospheric science in southern Africa using multiple data streams. This includes emissions inventory development, air quality modelling, using ground-based and remote sensing measurements, evidence-based air quality management planning, and the linkages between air quality and climate change on a regional to urban scale.

Before joining the University of Pretoria, she was a Principal Researcher in the Climate and Air Quality Modelling Group at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa. She received her PhD from the University of Colorado, Boulder focusing on atmospheric science (aerosol particles in particular) and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany. She was an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow in the Office for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. Her qualifications are BS (cum laude) Environmental Chemistry, Allegheny College, Meadville, PA, USA and a PhD Chemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.