I am a Science Manager in the International Climate Services team at the Met Office. The team works with partners and organisations from across the world to co-develop and deliver climate services, helping to address the risks associated with climate variability and change. My focus is on the development of climate services in Africa and Asia.
I currently lead the CARISSA (Climate Analysis for Risk Information and Services in South Asia) project as part of the DFID funded Asia Regional Resilience to a Changing Climate (ARRCC) programme. Through working with key partners in South Asia, including ICIMOD, IITM, the WFP and national meteorological services, CARISSA aims to improve the uptake and use of regional climate change information to guide climate change adaptation in South Asia.
I am also contributing the climate services work package of the Weather and Climate Science for Service Partnership South Africa (WCSSP South Africa). Supported by the UK Government’s Newton Fund, the research programme supports the development of capability to underpin services to inform decision makers in climate mitigation and adaptation strategy, supporting climate and weather resilient economic development and social welfare.
From 2017 to 2020, I was the science lead on the ASPIRE (Adaptive Social Protection: Information for enhanced REsilience) project. The ASPIRE project aimed to demonstrate how weather and climate information (especially seasonal forecasts) can inform Adaptive Social Protection (ASP) decisions and related resilience initiatives in the West African Sahel. The project has engaged with DFID, the World Bank and many partners across the region, including working closely with national social protection and climate stakeholders to promote dialogue and gain an understanding of key opportunities and challenges for integrating climate information into social protection programmes.
From 2015 to 2019 I contributed to the DFID and NERC funded FRACTAL (Future Resilience in African CiTies And Lands) project, led by the University of Cape Town. As part of the five-year Future Climate for Africa (FCFA) programme, FRACTAL aimed to improve the climate resilience of cities in southern Africa and develop new methods to climate service co-production.
From 2015 to 2016, I was the science lead on a DFID funded project titled, "Building Resilience to Climate Extremes following Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines". The project helped to inform planning and resilience building efforts in the Philippines, focusing on the changing risks associated with tropical cyclones and sea level rise. Working together with the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the project involved downscaling CMIP5 global climate models, using the Met Office regional climate model HadGEM3-RA, as well as communicating climate projections and broader risk information to stakeholders across the Philippines.
