Dr Edward Steele

Edward is the Met Office IT Fellow for Data Science.

Areas of expertise

  • Data Science applications
  • Decision-making under conditions of uncertainty
  • Operational oceanography

Current activities

Edward is the Met Office IT Fellow for Data Science, championing the development and delivery of the organisation's artificial intelligence and machine learning capability. Consistent with his expertise in environmental intelligence, and many years of leading high-impact applied scientific contributions across academia, industry and government, is his enjoyment of working with both internal and external partners to enable them to see around corners and ensure they capitalize on new and emerging technological improvements; unlocking new opportunities for radically enhanced weather and climate related decision-making.

Career background

Edward joined the Met Office in December 2015 as a scientist in the Post-Processing Applications team. From July 2019, while still continuing to lead the scientific application of forecasts within the commercial marine sector, he managed a team within the Aviation area on an interim basis for nine months, prior to founding (and growing) the Marine Applications team; with his personal impact credited with helping substantially de-risk multi-million-pound operations, ensuring the safety of life at sea, and evolving sector-wide standards (and aspirations) for the use of these data.

His background includes a PhD in Marine Physics and a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Physical Oceanography, both at the University of Plymouth, as well as significant contributions to the wider field of operational oceanography spanning multiple international learned society, journal editorial, joint industry project and cross-government Agency advisory roles.

Visit Dr Edward Steele's profile on LinkedIn.

External recognition

  • American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE): Winner of ASCE OTC 2023 Award for “cutting-edge research … [that] addresses one of the critical gaps in the metocean practice”; in recognition of work on the prediction of Loop Current and eddy regimes in the Gulf of Mexico in conjunction with bp, Shell and Woods Hole Group.