Rod Keenan has a B. Sc. (Forestry) from the Australian National University and a PhD in forest ecology from University of British Columbia.

He is former Head of the Departments of Forest and Ecosystem Science and Resource Management and Geography at the University of Melbourne. Rod has worked as a research scientist and science advisor in a number of Australian states and with the Australian Government as an advisor on forests and climate change.

From 2009-14 he was Director of the Victorian Centre for Climate Change Adaptation Research, a research partnership between Victorian universities.

Rod has research interests in forests and climate change, forest ecosystem services and forest and environmental policy. He has undertaken research across Australia, in Canada, Papua New Guinea and in SE Asia. He is a member of the UN-FAO Advisory Group for the Global Forest Resource Assessment.