The Challenges in Predicting the Weather and Climate - for the Science and the Scientists

 by Professor Paul Hardaker, Chief Executive Royal Meteorological Society

Thursday March 22nd 2012, 7.30pm, J.M. Synge Theatre, Trinity College Dublin

Click here to book a place.

(This is the Irish Met Society's lecture to commemorate World Met Day 2012)

Abstract:

Meteorology is a relatively young science and there has never been such an interesting time to be a meteorologist, in part because of the many challenges that still face us in the prediction of weather and climate, whether it’s providing high resolution forecasts, ensuring climate models have the complexity they need or in the greater use of ensembles and probabilistic forecasts.  It is important that as a community we are enthusing and developing the next generation of meteorologists who will help us to tackle these issues.  However accurate our predictions and forecasts are it is important that they are communicated effectively and that, in the case of climate change, the science is explained in a way that is easy to understand and to engage with.  This is particularly important when we are faced with challenging mitigation and adaptation decisions to respond to our changing climate.

Biography Professor Paul Hardaker, PhD, FRMetS, CMet, CEnv:

Paul is a mathematician by background whose early research work focused on modelling and instrument studies in radio propagation, working with organisations such as British Telecom, the European Space Agency and the Rutherford-Appleton Labs. He later moved to the Met Office where he spent 14 years in a variety of roles including heading up an international consultancy on hydrometeorology, and the Remote Sensing and Observations Branches. He then became Programme Director for the Met Office's Development Programmes and latterly the Met Office’s Chief Advisor to Government, providing support to the Government in areas such as climate change policy and the civil contingency programme.

Paul has led the UK delegation to several UN and EU technical committees on meteorology, he has been a member of the Physics Advisor Panel at the University of Wales, one of the Government’s Science and Society Champions, Chairman of one of the UK’s national e-Science projects, and the founding editor of the international journal Atmospheric Science Letters (ASL). Paul has also been the Interim General Manager for EcoConnect, a joint- venture between the UK and New Zealand Governments to provide environmental services across the globe, and for 3 years, a Non-Executive Director and Chief Scientist of a City company working in risk management. He was the Chairman of the UK Research Council’s recent programme on the Flood Risk from Extreme Events (FREE) and for eleven years, until 2009, held a visiting professorship at the University of Salford. For five years Paul was also a Non-Executive Director and latterly Deputy Chair of the Board of NHS Berkshire West, one of the UK’s regional Primary Care Trusts.

Paul is currently Chief Executive of the Royal Meteorological Society (the Learned and Professional Society for weather and climate). He is also a visiting professor at the University of Reading and a member of the Science Steering Group for the UK’s Joint Weather and Climate Research Programme, and the Advisory Board for e-Research South. Paul is Chairman of Sense about Science, a charity that campaigns for better reporting of science in the media, and is a Board member of the Science Council, a federal body representing the profession of science in the UK. He is also a member of the Standards Quality Council for the qualifications awarding body PAA\VQSET.