David Karoly is a Professor of Atmospheric Science in the School of Earth Sciences and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science at the University of Melbourne.

He is an internationally recognised expert in climate change and climate variability, including greenhouse climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion and interannual climate variations due to El Niño-Southern Oscillation.

David Karoly was heavily involved in preparation of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released in 2007, in several different roles. Professor Karoly was Chair of the Premier of Victoria\'s Climate Change Reference Group during 2008 and 2009. At present, he is a member of the Science Advisory Panel of the Climate Commission, the recently established Climate Change Authority, and the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.