Honorary graduates 2014-15

Professor Dame Julia Slingo DBE (DSc)

Friday 18 July 11:45am

Julia Slingo became Met Office Chief Scientist in February 2009, where she leads a team of over 500 scientists working on a very broad portfolio of research that underpins weather forecasting, climate prediction and climate change projections. 

Since joining the Met Office, Julia has sought to integrate the UK community in weather and climate research to ensure that the UK receives maximum benefit from its science investments. She has strengthened the NERC/Met Office Joint Weather and Climate Research Programme to secure the UK’s national capability in observations, modelling and supercomputing. She has also set in place a unique academic partnership with leading universities, including the University of Exeter, to advance cutting-edge research and bring more of their science through to impact.

Before joining the Met Office, Julia was the Director of Climate Research in NERC’s National Centre for Atmospheric Science, at the University of Reading. In 2006 she founded the Walker Institute for Climate System Research at Reading, aimed at addressing the cross disciplinary challenges of climate change and its impacts.

Julia has had a long-term career in atmospheric physics and climate science, working at the Met Office, the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the USA.

Throughout her career she has brought innovative approaches to understanding and modelling weather and climate. She has developed and used complex weather and climate models to deliver new insights into how the atmosphere and climate system works, as well as significant advances in predictive skill. Her special interests are in tropical weather and climate variability, understanding their influence on the global climate system and their role in monthly to decadal climate prediction.