An external view of the Met Office building at night.

Dr Keir Bovis

Exascale and Unified Model Partner Technical Infrastructure Development Programme Manager.

Areas of expertise

  • Unified Model ancillary fields
  • Modelling of surface fields within Met Office NWP models
  • Providing support to Met Office NWP operational staff and Met Office external collaborators

Current activities

As Programme Manager for the Met Office’s Exascale Programme, Keir uses best practice principles of MSP in undertaking the identification, definition and delivery of the programme. This programme aims to develop a broad set of modelling capabilities for weather and climate simulations that:

  1. support the requirements of the Met Office business and scientific research aims over the next 15 years into the 2020s;
  2. maximise the benefits of HPC for Met Office competitiveness and scientific discovery.

The UM Technical Infrastructure Programme focuses on developments to resolve the priority weaknesses of the UM Infrastructure rather than ongoing maintenance. Its objective is to deliver systems that are flexible, easier to use and easier to adopt for both research and production requirements. The programme draws upon a distributed team of scientific software engineers following a collaborative programme of technical infrastructure development.

Career background

In his previous role, Keir worked in Data Assimilation and Ensembles undertaking research to improve the land-surface data assimilation capability in Met Office weather models. 

Keir was responsible for developing an observation targeting capability at the Met Office as part of the THORPEX project. He participated in field campaigns such as GFDEX, EURORISK Preview Data Targeting System and the European THORPEX Regional Campaign of 2007.

Prior to joining the Met Office, Keir completed a PhD in medical imaging at the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences within the University of Exeter, where he also received his masters degree.

External recognition

  • Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) practitioner
  • Member of the British Computer Society (MBCS)
  • Chartered Engineer (CEng)
  • Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society (FRMetS)