Graciela Metternicht is the Dean of Science at Western Sydney University. She is a Professor of Geography with over 25 years of experience in environmental management, sustainability and the science-policy interface. She is passionate about education and research on the role that geospatial technologies can play for informing environmental management and policy and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Born in Argentina, she undertook postgraduate studies in The Netherlands and Belgium. Her career has bridged science to policy; for 5 years she was Regional Coordinator of Early Warning and Assessment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Previous academic appointments include, Director of the Institute of Environmental Studies (UNSW Sydney), Head of Discipline and Professor of Geospatial Systems and Environmental Management at the University of South Australia and Professor of Spatial Sciences at Curtin University of Technology.

Graciela continues advising different programs of the United Nations.