About

I’m a Research Scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, based at the Department of Meteorology, University of Reading. I’m interested in climate variability and high-impact weather.

I read geology at the University of Durham and then undertook postgraduate research in environmental science, palaeoclimatology, and atmospheric science. My PhD combined a study of atmospheric moisture transport to East Asia with analysis of stable water isotope data to interpret reconstructions of past monsoon variability. At Durham, I also contributed to fieldwork and data analysis in the HURRICANE Project, an international effort to reconstruct North Atlantic hurricane activity over the last four centuries. I became a Fellow of the Geological Society of London in 2011 and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society in 2017.

Moving to Reading fostered new research interests. I use observational data and high-resolution global climate models to study tropical and midlatitude storms—their frequency, tracks, and structures; how they intensify; how they interact with the oceans; and their impacts. I’m also studying how well current climate models simulate the North Atlantic jet stream, which steers storms towards Europe. I’m interested in how anthropogenic climate change will reshape storm risk, and what we can learn from state-of-the-art climate models. Since 2016, I’ve received support from four major national and international programs: PRIMAVERA, ACSIS, nextGEMS, and REPRESA. During 2018–2020, I worked with the hydrocarbon industry on tropical storm risk. Most recently, I’m part of a UK-US team that secured funding for Huracán, a four-year research programme on tropical cyclone risk beyond the tropics, and I’m the programme’s Project Manager. Additionally, I help run the biennial NCAS Climate Modelling Summer School.

Away from science, I’m probably in a park with my dog. I love tennis, football (Leicester City fan), basketball (San Antonio Spurs fan), and cycling. As David Attenborough put it: “if I can bicycle, I bicycle.” I’m a fair-weather runner and I’ve tried martial arts, cricket, squash, swimming, and climbing. I’ll read almost anything, and I’m learning the guitar (slowly) and harmonica (even slower).

Career

CV

2016–
Research Scientist
National Centre for Atmospheric Science
Department of Meteorology, University of Reading

2012 & 2014
Visiting Researcher
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
(Institut für Atmosphäre und Klima, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich)

2011–2015
Ph.D.
Sir Kingsley Dunham Studentship
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Durham

Research interests

  • Tropical, post-tropical and midlatitude cyclones
  • Air-sea interactions around cyclones
  • North Atlantic climate variability and extremes
  • Atmospheric circulation and jet streams
  • Climate risk assessment
  • Stable water isotopes and palaeoclimate reconstruction
  • Karst environments