Research

My group’s research involves the application of AI and data science techniques on vast and various environmental datasets, including the output from climate models, and satellite and weather station data.

We aim to identify and understand the key mechanisms that drive year-to-year climate variability over vulnerable regions, the changes in frequency and strength of extreme weather events, and to reduce uncertainties in future climate predictions.

In order to support business and policy decision making we aim to apply AI and data pipelines that are interpretable (not ‘black-box’), probabilistic, and reproducible.

Funding

I have secured over £7m in grant funding from public and private sectors as both Principal-Investigator (PI) and Co-Investigator (Co-I). These include:

• Four projects funded by The Alan Turing Institute, under the Strategic Priorities Fund “AI for Science, Engineering, Health and Government” (EP/T001569/1):
  • Environmental monitoring: blending satellite and surface data, 2021-2023 (PI)
  • Understanding Arctic sea ice loss, 2019-2021 (PI)
  • Improving tracking of iceberg populations in the Southern Ocean, 2019-2021 (Co-I)
  • Detecting changes in Himalayan glaciers and impacts on water security, 2020-2021 (PI)
• Supporting Pangeo: the community-driven platform for Big Data geoscience, Microsoft AI for Earth, 2020-2021 (Co-I)
• AI for Earth Observation (AI4EO) Accelerator, European Space Agency (ESA), 2020-2022 (Co-I)
• Peruvian Glacier Retreat and its Impact on Water Security (Peru GROWS), NERC (NE/S013296/1) - Newton-Paulet Fund, 2019-2022 (Co-I)
• Emergence of Climate Hazards, NERC (NE/S004726/1), 2019-2022 (Co-I)
• Future Water Security for communities reliant on the Upper Indus, Himalayas, NERC (NE/R000107/1), 2017-2020 (Co-I)
• The North Atlantic Climate System Integrated Study (ACSIS), NERC (NE/N018028/1), 2016-2021 (Co-I)
• Ice shelves in a warming world: Filchner Ice Shelf system, Antarctica (FISS), NERC (NE/L013770/1), 2015-2020 (Co-I)

Collaborations

Microsoft AI for Earth | Microsoft Research Lab - Cambridge | European Space Agency (ESA) | UK Met Office | Science and Technology Facilities Council | University of Cambridge | University of Lancaster | Google DeepMind | European Bank for Reconstruction and Developement | Max Fordham | Mott MacDonald | Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP) | Department of Business Environment, Innovation and Skills (BEIS) | Department of Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) | University College London | UCL Centre for Artificial Intelligence | University of Exeter | National Oceanography Centre | Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar & Marine Research