My research in climate science focuses on the hazards that extreme weather and climate events pose to society and nature, and how these are being altered by climate change. I co-lead the Climate Dynamics group, which provides a vibrant and supportive environment for PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and research fellows.

My research team uses physically-based climate modelling to investigate how human influences on the climate have altered extreme weather and how these changes may evolve in future. I also collaborate with researchers who investigate how climate-driven changes in weather affect people and the environment, such as through flooding and impacts on human health.

Another central interest is how we can fully represent our scientific understanding of changes in weather and climate extremes. This includes characterising uncertainty and robustness in the scientific evidence and assessing potential ways in which the climate system might surprise us. This involves understanding observed changes, the limitations of climate models, and how uncertainty in large-scale climate change affects estimates of the future impacts of extreme weather.

My team also applies machine learning and artificial intelligence to enhance climate modelling. We have developed machine learning models for climate applications based on detailed physical simulations and observations. These methods greatly expand our climate simulation capabilities. A particular focus is improving the representation of extreme weather, which is a major challenge for machine learning.

We work with numerous external partners to ensure that our research is addressing practical questions faced by users of climate data. These include the Met Office, the Environment Agency, and international and commercial organisations.

My earlier research includes work on fundamental large-scale atmospheric dynamics and climate-model parameterisations, particularly the effects of stochastic parameterisation. I led the scientific development of a relatively high-resolution climate model for the climateprediction.net distributed computing project as well. My background is in physics.

I am also committed to improving research culture, particularly by increasing support for researchers’ mental health and wellbeing. See, for example, the presentation slides here. I am a University Mental Health Champion.