Champion Team

Suraje Dessai had been Professor of Climate Change Adaptation at the University of Leeds since 2012. His research and teaching focuses on the management of climate change uncertainties, perception of climate risks and the science-policy interface in climate change impacts, adaptation and services. He had published more than 80 peer-reviewed papers and was the recipient of a European Research Council Starting Grant. He was the co-editor-in-chief of Climate Risk Management and a Lead Author in the IPCC WG1 (The Physical Science Basis) Sixth Assessment Report, having been a Lead Author in the IPCC WG2 (Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability) Fifth Assessment Report.

Kate had worked on adaptation to a changing climate as a researcher, trainer, facilitator, and evaluator and in an advisory capacity for over 24 years in both developed and developing country contexts.  She had led and managed projects in a range of settings including civil society, academia and policy and within organizations that aim to create a bridge between these different sectors.  Kate also had 15 years of experience in designing and facilitating participatory research processes, workshops and events.

Pete joined the team as the Impact Translation Fellow and developed ways that the outputs and learning from the programme could be implemented into policy and decision-making, especially at the national level. Previously having worked at the UK Climate Impacts Programme, University of Oxford, he brought 14 years experience of working in the adaptation world, researching and supporting stakeholder engagement with climate change adaptation science. Initially, this was using the UK Climate Projections and more recently in how to use the science of extreme weather event attribution. This follows the completion of his doctoral thesis that examined how climate science can be more successfully communicated to the non-academics using online technologies. He is a qualified teacher with over twenty years’ experience teaching at school and university level. His research has provided him with an opportunity to link his background as an environmental geographer with his interest in the role of technologies as tools for engagement.

As Research Manager: Energy, Climate Change and Sustainability at the University of Leeds, Margo led a small team which provided research support to the Sustainability Research Institute’s portfolio of energy and climate change related centres and projects. as well as shared duties with Suzie May-Graham on the UK Climate Resilience Programme

Kate Lock led on communications for the Champions team. This included the website, social media and liaising with the programme partners over media releases, etc. Kate was formerly the Communications Officer for the Priestley International Centre for Climate; before moving on to work with the Champions team and for the Place Based Climate Action Network

Catherine Homoky joined the UK Climate Resilience Champions team as Communications and Engagement Officer. She focused on facilitating knowledge exchange and engagement with key audiences, through events, articles and social media content. She has a PGC in Practical Science Communication and previously held the position of Senior Communications Officer (Science Lead) with the National Oceanography Centre. Prior to that she was Acting Director for the CLIVAR project of the World Climate Research Programme.

Professor Jason Lowe worked alongside the Climate Resilience Champions as a thought leader, flag bearer and strategy owner for the UK Climate Resilience research programme. Along with the Champions, Jason’s role in UK Climate Resilience was to build an integrated research community, facilitate and maximize links across the portfolio and promoting Programme and knowledge exchange. Recently, he led the production of the latest UK climate projections, UKCP18 and is Scientific Coordinator of the EU H2020 programme, EUCP.

Dr Rachel Harcourt joined the Champion team to work on research synthesis and to promote knowledge exchange.

Suzie, an experienced programme manager, ensured the smooth running of the work of the Champion Team through developing, implementing and tracking key systems.