An external view of the Met Office building at night.

Dr David Walters

David is the Met Office Principal Fellow for Research to Production.

Areas of expertise

  • Coordinating improvements across model components.
  • Evaluating new model formulations.
  • Diagnosing problems in model performance.

Publications by David Walters

Current activities

David is an internationally recognised expert in the design and delivery of weather prediction systems and the models that underpin them. As the Met Office’s Principal Fellow for Research to Production, he leads the scientific direction of work on machine learning-based weather models, exploring how they can complement physics-based approaches and unlock opportunities to radically redesign our operational forecasting systems. His work spans multiple Met Office directorates to ensure that these opportunities deliver benefit across the forecasting value chain and meet the needs of users and stakeholders.

His personal research interests include the development of seamless modelling systems, the role of higher resolution and greater complexity in improving Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) forecasts, and the use of ensemble forecasts to address the full spectrum of user needs.

Career background

David joined the Met Office in 2004 and worked on atmospheric NWP model development. In 2008, he earned an MSc with distinction in Weather, Climate and Modelling from the University of Reading.

Between 2010 and 2017, David managed the Global Atmospheric Model Development group, responsible for developing global configurations of the Unified Model for use across all weather and climate timescales. Between 2017 and 2024, David led the Research to Operations (R2O) team, who develop, deliver and coordinate improvements to our suite of operational NWP systems whilst working closely with stakeholders to inform future NWP developments.

Prior to joining the Met Office, David completed an MPhys (1st class hons) followed by a PhD in theoretical physics, both from the University of Wales Swansea. He then spent a year at the University of Manchester as a post-doctoral research associate.

External recognition

Royal Meteorological Society’s FitzRoy Award for Professional Meteorology (2023)

Institute of Physics Computational Physics Group Thesis Prize (2003)

Selected as one of twelve PhD students from UK and Ireland to attend the 51st Lindau meeting of Nobel Laureates (2001)