Tim Palmer and Charles Godfray in conversation: “Modelling climate change: predicting the future”

Past Event

Date
 03 March 2022, 5:00pm - 6:00pm

Location
 Oxford Martin School & Online
34 Broad Street (corner of Holywell and Catte Streets), Oxford, OX1 3BD

Event Recording:

Join Professor Tim Palmer, Royal Society 2010 Anniversary Research Professor, and Professor Sir Charles Godfray, Director of the Oxford Martin School, as they discuss how modelling climate change can inform decisions made by scientists, policy makers & business managers.

But how robust are the predictions and logistically how can this information be shared?

Palmer Tim 2

Professor Tim Palmer
Royal Society 2010 Anniversary Research Professor

Tim Palmer is an internationally renowned meteorologist with a particular interest in the predictability and dynamics of the weather and climate. Tim’s work has led to the development of probabilistic techniques to forecast weather and climate, and he has applied this to disease and crop yield prediction and more. His techniques have been implemented by the Met Office and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, amongst others.

Tim’s work is theoretical as well as practical. His recent research exploits ideas in imprecise computing to develop computer simulations of weather and climate at very high resolution. His opinion is highly regarded at an international level through serving on multiple government advisory committees and contributing to all reports conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

He was appointed as CBE in the 2015 New Year’s Honours list for services to science and an International Member of the US National Academy of Sciences. Tim has won numerous awards from organisations such as the American Meteorological Society and the Institute of Physics. Remarkably, he also retains an active interest in his original doctorate topic, fundamental physics.

Charles Godfray

Professor Sir Charles Godfray
Director, Oxford Martin School

Professor Godfray is a population biologist with broad interests in the environmental sciences and has published in fundamental and applied areas of ecology, evolution and epidemiology. He is interested in how the global food system will need to change and adapt to the challenges facing humanity in the 21st century, and in particular in the concept of sustainable intensification, and the relationship between food production, ecosystem services and biodiversity. In 2017 he was knighted for services to scientific research and for scientific advice to government.

As well as leading the School, Professor Godfray is also a lead researcher of the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food and the Oxford Martin Restatements project, a new approach to providing succinct summaries of scientific evidence around highly contentious topics.