David Lee is the Director of CATE and Professor of Atmospheric Science. David holds a PhD in atmospheric science from Manchester Metropolitan University and spent some years working at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and then the Defence Evaluation Research Agency before returning to academia.

In addition to being Director of CATE, David leads the climate change area within CATE and works on a number of UK and European Projects relating to aviation and transport effects on climate change. David also represents the UK within ICAO as a technical advisor and provides advice to Dft, DEFRA and DTi. He has over 50 peer-reviewed publications, many recent ones dealing with aviation’s effects on climate. David is also a Visiting Felow at the University of Oxford's Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics Department and is Rapporteur on Aviation and the Environment for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Within the Omega project, David is the science Technical Champion.