Developing a National Framework for Climate Services for the UK (Webinar)

UK Climate Resilience Programme Webinar Series 2021-2022

Date: 23 March 2022, 12.00pm (GMT)

Speakers:  Louise Wilson (Met Office) and Nicola Golding (Met Office), with respondents Katy Peat (Defra) and Michiko Hama (MeteoSwiss)

Chair: Kate Lonsdale (UKCR co-Champion)

See below for links to the webinar recording and presentation slides

Abstract

This webinar will focus on recent work funded by the UK Climate Resilience Programme on the need for a UK national framework for climate services. The findings suggest that the creation of a National Framework for Climate Services (NFCS) for the UK is recommended to help coordinate, facilitate, and strengthen collaboration among the UK climate services community and improve the co-production, tailoring, delivery and use of science-based climate information and services. Without an NFCS the UK will fail to properly benefit from the activities and legacy of current programmes through a lack of continuity and continued difficulties bringing together multi and trans disciplinary approaches to adaptation and building resilience. In this seminar the process of deriving the recommendations from information gathered during a series of engagement workshops held throughout June 2021 will be shared, as well as the recommendations themselves. There will then be a response from government and industry, and an opportunity for the community to share their responses.

Presenter biographies

Louise Wilson is a senior climate scientist with more than eight years’ experience working with multi-disciplinary teams to produce climate projections, as well as working with users to translate projections into decision-relevant information. She holds a PhD in applied and computational mathematics from Monash University, Australia, specialising in cloud microphysics and rainfall initiation mechanisms. Louise joined the Met Office in 2020 from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, where she led the development of a national hydrological projections service which delivers Australia-wide estimates of future climate impacts on the hydrological cycle and indicators for agriculture, urban water supply, flood, drought and other water related variables. Currently Louise is working across the public and private sectors to improve climate services through the UK Climate Resilience Programme.

Nicola Golding is International Climate Services Manager at the UK Met Office, where she manages a team developing and carrying out tailored scientific research for a range of UK and international government and commercial customers. The focus of her role is in developing the relationship between users and providers of climate services, enabling knowledge exchange and the development of services for different sectors. She has spent time developing and publishing good practice on this topic and is active in engaging with partners and researchers in this field, drawing in expertise from other disciplines. She has both national and international experience with previous roles including field and lab-based research in climate-ecosystem interactions in Australia, and in developing a successful climate change interactive exhibition at the London Science Museum. Her current role has also included close interaction and development of work with the Global Framework for Climate Services office at the World Meteorological Organisation, and her current focus is on the improvement of provider-user engagement for the development and delivery of enhanced climate services.