New Chief Scientist at the Met Office

22 July 2008

Met Office Chief Executive, John Hirst, announced today the new Chief Scientist for the Met Office:

"I am delighted to announce that, following an open competition, we have appointed Professor Julia Slingo OBE as the new Chief Scientist of the Met Office. Julia’s reputation as a world-leading climate scientist is an ideal match with the Met Office as we continue to deliver world-class research and advice about weather and climate change."

Professor Slingo is currently Professor of Meteorology at the University of Reading and Director of Climate Research, at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science. Julia was a founding director of the Walker Institute, and has previously been a member of the NERC Atmospheric Science and Technology Board and a contributor to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Professor Slingo's research interest has focused on tropical climate variability, its influence on the global climate, its role in seasonal to interannual climate prediction and its response to climate change. This has built on her long-term career in climate modelling, working on a range of key problems in atmospheric physics such as convection, cloud-radiation interaction. For many years she has worked on tropical weather systems and their influence on the climate system. Professor Slingo was one of the first to show that the oceans may play a key role and that tropical weather may be instrumental in the behaviour of El Niño.

Professor Slingo said: "I am delighted to be returning to the Met Office after 28 years and to lead work into enhanced weather and climate-change science, and importantly see this deliver improved services to societies in the UK and around the world."

The Met Office Chief Scientist is responsible for leading the strategic direction of weather and climate change research at the Met Office.

Notes:

• The Met Office Hadley Centre is the UK's foremost centre for climate change research. Partly funded by Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and the Ministry of Defence.
• The Walker Institute for Climate System Research was established in 2006 at the University of Reading. It draws together a number of internationally renowned climate system research groups and centres with expertise across a wide range of core disciplines central to climate system science.
• A CV for Professor Julia Slingo, along with a photograph can be obtained by contacting the Met Office Press Office.