John Church, a leading climate change researcher sacked by CSIRO, has secured a new platform for his work at the University of NSW.

Dr Church, a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science with more than 150 peer-reviewed articles, will take up the post as a professor in the university's Climate Change Research Centre in January.

"John Church is easily Australia's most credentialled expert on sea-level rise," Matthew England, the centre's deputy director, told Fairfax Media. "For a while we risked losing his formidable expertise here in Australia."

Dr Church was one of the most prominent researchers let go at CSIRO during a bid to slash climate monitoring and modelling jobs. Following an outcry at home and abroad, though, most staff originally earmarked for the axe were spared.