Awards for Contribution or Service to the Society or Profession

Honorary Fellowship is a lifetime accolade made to a select group of distinguished individuals whose careers in meteorology (or a related science) or as a public figure renders them a leader and role model within the meteorological community and an inspiration to future generations. Honorary Fellowship is limited to a small number of individuals and is the highest honour bestowed by the Society.

The Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Society or the Profession is awarded annually for outstanding service to the Society or the Profession by Members or staff.

The Society Volunteer of the Year Award is awarded annually to a Member of the Society who has made a significant contribution to the Society as a volunteer in the preceding year.

2022 Awards

The Award for Outstanding Contribution to The Society or Profession

Dr Roger Brugge

For over 3 decades, Roger Brugge has demonstrated a dedication to his profession, engaging in meteorological outreach activities to schools and other organisations within Reading and Maidenhead, providing leadership within the amateur meteorologist community, and ensuring that long weather records from the University of Reading are available to a wide public audience. Roger has played a major role in the Department of Meteorology’s outreach programmes to schools and other local organisations such as scout groups, local astronomical societies, presenting and enthusing his passion for meteorology to many hundreds of teachers, students and the general public over the years. In doing so he helped devise and run many interactive activities such as the Richardson Forecast Factory, Taking Observations and Plotting Weather Charts, the Primary School Climate Change Coursebook, meteorology taster days, and work experience weeks as well as assisting with the University of Reading Meteorology Observatory Tours.

Roger Brugge is well-known amongst the amateur meteorologist community, particularly in his role as voluntary Editor of the monthly Climatological Observer’s Link Bulletin, a role he has fulfilled for over 20 years, producing in this time almost 300 monthly publications and valuable Climatological Averages. He has contributed observations from the Maidenhead weather station and East Berkshire temperature records, informative World Weather summaries and provided monthly quality control of Oxford University daily weather data for the Oxford University observatory. His book, “Setting up a Weather Station and Understanding the Weather” is a valuable reference for amateur meteorologists.

Roger almost single-handedly digitised the entire manuscript of weather records from the University of Reading’s London Road climatological station, which operated from 1908 to 1967, more than doubling the digital observational record. The records are now used and quoted widely, for example for school and student projects and in local media references during extreme weather events, and formed the basis of a co-authored book, One Hundred Years of Reading Weather, published to commemorate the Department of Meteorology’s 50th anniversary, which itself formed the basis of a very successful University Public Lecture (jointly with Stephen Burt), which remains the University’s best-attended Public Lecture to date. He has also helped to manage the department’s observatory data stream and the “met jobs” mailing list, a valuable resource for meteorological job vacancies. He also regularly supplies vital information to local councils, the police, sailing clubs, schools, hospitals and Universities.

Based upon this substantial and dedicated service to his profession that include meteorology outreach programmes, leadership within the amateur meteorologist community, and a visible role across the wider public community within Reading and Maidenhead, Roger Brugge is richly deserving of the Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Society or the Profession.

Acceptance message

I was really surprised, and honoured, to receive this award from the RMetS. I developed an interest in the weather, and later meteorology in general, as a schoolboy running my own do-it-yourself back garden weather station in Manchester, partly inspired by a geography teacher who used to display the Daily Weather Report on his noticeboard. At weekends, before breakfast, I would be found listening to the trawler band and shortwave radio frequencies, gathering a variety of shipping and aerodrome weather reports from Canada to eastern Europe, to create a weather map of Europe and North America! Such was data gathering and map plotting before the internet!

So, making and using weather observations has always been a part of my life – maybe why I have always been keen to travel to schools with a car boot full of equipment to show how ‘things are done’ and to enthuse others. I heard about the Climatological Observers Link as a student and this made me realise that amateurs could have a role in making observations – something that WOW does very well nowadays.

Little did I know when I first got interested in the weather, just how important the subject would become to everyone by the time I retired, after a research career in meteorology and oceanography, in 2022. The award citation shows that others also value my life’s work in the subject, for which I am truly humble. Once again, thank you.

Journal Editor Awards

The Meteorological Applications Editors’ Award

Dr Meinolf Kossmann

Dr Meinolf Kossmann is always punctual and pro-active in handling manuscripts and working on reviews himself. He attends all the Editorial Board meetings and is always very active in bringing his concerns, suggestions and ideas for improving the journal to each. Meinolf has co-led a very popular Special Issue for Met Apps “Atmospheric Processes and Applications in Urban, Coastal, and Mountainous terrain” which has had more papers accepted (15) than any other Special Issue in the past. We think that this topic was an excellent choice for a Special Issue and could contribute to widening the audience of the journal.

Acceptance message

I feel honoured to receive the Meteorological Applications Editors’ Award for 2022. This award provides me with feelings of great satisfaction that people value my efforts and engagement as a member of the Meteorological Applications’ editorial board since May 2019. My thanks go to the journal’s editors in chief - Cristina Charlton-Perez and Dino Zardi, to my fellow editorial board members, to the journal’s RMetS affiliates, and to the Wiley team for their cooperative working style and their enthusiasm in making the journal very successful.

Applied atmospheric science is the focus of my daily work at the Deutscher Wetterdienst. High-quality journal articles are essential for the international exchange of knowledge in this field. I hope that the recently published special issue on ‘Atmospheric Processes and Applications in Urban, Coastal, and Mountainous Terrain’ - co-edited with Lorenzo Giovannini - will continue to contribute to the journal’s popularity.

As an associate editor I strive to be fair and supportive to contributing authors while ensuring the scientific standards of accepted and published articles. Therefore, special thanks also go to all the reviewers who supported me in the evaluation and improvement of manuscripts submitted to Meteorological Applications. While some editors may tell unhappy stories about the difficulty to find reviewers, I enjoy using detective skills to track you down and benefit from your expertise in the topics discussed in new manuscript submissions.

The International Journal of Climatology Editors’ Award

Mr Mike Kendon, Dr Mark McCarthy, Dr Svetlana Jevrejeva, Professor Tim Sparks and co-authors

IJOC Winners

This Award recognises the team of authors who annually produce the State of the UK Climate reports. These have been published as a Special Supplement to the International Journal of Climatology since 2017.

Mike Kendon is a climate information scientist working for the Met Office National Climate Information Centre (NCIC). He maintains and develops systems, software and products to monitor the UK’s climate, including the Climate Grid software which is used to generate the HadUK-Grid dataset of gridded climate data for the UK. This is the principal data source for monitoring the UK's climate based on the land network of weather stations, with monthly temperature extending back to 1884 and monthly rainfall back to 1836.

Mark McCarthy is science manager of the NCIC, providing monitoring and analysis of UK climate variability and change. Mark's work is to lead the NCIC team to provide underpinning observational data and analysis of UK climate. The purpose of the group is to help government, public, and commercial customers by providing an authoritative source of UK climatological data products, enable the UK to understand the climatological context of weather and climate events as they happen, and to enable society to better understand and manage risks and opportunities arising from climate variability and change.

Svetlana Jevrejeva is a sea level scientist working at the Marine Systems Modelling group, National Oceanography Centre (NOC). She specialises in the synthesis of observations and models to develop our understanding of physical mechanisms for global and regional sea level rise and variability, their impact in coastal areas, changes in tropical cyclones in warming climate and extreme sea levels.

Tim Sparks has a background in applying quantitative techniques to biological data in historical or long-term phenology datasets that can provide information on environmental, including climatic, change. He re-established a phenological network in the UK in 1998, now run by the Woodland Trust as Nature’s Calendar, and acts in a voluntary capacity for the Trust.

Mike Kendon is lead author of the annual State of the UK Climate reports. This annual series of articles have given IJOC both national and international exposure, constituting a model for other similar publications in the future. The Editors recognise the import work of Mike as his co-authors in producing this report.

Acceptance message

We are delighted to accept the International Journal of Climatology Editors’ Award for the annual State of UK Climate reports. These are intended to provide an authoritative up-to-date assessment of the UK’s climate and how it is changing: if we are to understand our climate of the future, first we must understand our current climate and how it has changed in the past. The reports represent a culmination of a much wider team effort, so we wish to accept this award on behalf of all contributors. We especially acknowledge the work of members of the Met Office National Climate Information Centre team. Monitoring the UK’s climate requires persistence and commitment, with the integrity of the science at the core of what we do.

As an island nation with many thousands of miles of coastline, including major coastal cities, coastal erosion, flood risk and rising sea levels are a threat in many areas, and it is important these are carefully monitored. Similarly, it is vital that we understand how the natural world is responding to our changing climate. We are therefore pleased that this report also pulls together sections on sea level and phenology in one collaborative effort.

A common theme through all sections of the report are the observations, without which a report like this would simply not be possible. We are lucky in the UK to have many observations from professional and volunteer observers collected over decades, sometimes over centuries. We are grateful for these contributions, for the hard work of teams maintaining the observing networks, and ongoing efforts to rescue and digitize historical observations. But nothing should be taken for granted: above all, this report highlights the importance of adequately maintaining our observation networks into the future. We are grateful for the recognition this award brings. Thank you.

The Quarterly Journal Editors’ Award

Dr Silvio Davolio

Dr Silvio Davolio has been an associate editor of the Quarterly Journal for over 12 years making him one of our longest-serving associate editors. During that time he has handled a large number of manuscripts on a broad range of topics including convection, weather systems and precipitation. He is always willing to help the journal, including taking on difficult manuscripts, and handles all aspects of the role with efficiency and with skill. We would like to recognise this sustained contribution to the journal over many years.

Acceptance message

Twelve years already! Time truly flies. It seems like yesterday when I accepted Professor John Thuburn’s invitation to join the QJ Editorial staff. I was proud of that, and I still remember I was so excited.

All scientists are willing to publish their research results, and therefore I believe it’s also our duty to support the system. This was and this is still my motivation, although it takes time, effort and sometimes presents difficulties. I am proud of serving the QJ which I believe is one of the most renowned journal in atmospheric science and meteorology. I keep on providing my contribution to maintain the QJ at the high standards it deserves, also thanks to the Chief Editors who have been always available to provide their support. Not tired yet, but ready to step back as soon as you decide it’s time to be replaced by new strength.

Thanks for the opportunity to be with you, and thanks for this unexpected and very appreciated award.

The Geoscience Data Journal Editors’ Award

Dr Liqiang Xu and Professor Chris Reason

Dr Liqiang Xu and Prof Chris Reason

The nominees were selected for their dedicated service as associate editors of Geoscience Data Journal (GDJ). They have always handled their assignments with care and speed. Specifically, they handled 9 and 7 manuscripts, respectively, with an average processing time of 3 months, excelling among our editorial team. Both are awarded the GDJ Editors’ Award for 2022 in recognition of their outstanding contributions.

Acceptance messages

Dr Liqiang Xu:

It is my great honour to be recognized for the Geoscience Data Journal Editors’ Award for 2022 from the Royal Meteorological Society. This is my fifth year as an Associate Editor of GDJ, and I am very proud of being a member of the excellent editorial team. Our world has been entering a new era of data science. GDJ provides a wonderful platform for communicating data science and its application in earth science. I am so lucky to be part of this platform, and have the opportunity to work with many outstanding authors, conscientious reviewers, great editorial team, and professional journal staff members. I gained quite a lot from them, and this is really a cool experience in my life.

Professor Chris Reason:

It has been a privilege and an honour for me to have served as an Associate Editor of this journal since it was introduced by the Royal Meteorological Society. Under the wise and capable leadership of founding Chief Editor Rob Allan, and more recently, co-Chief Editors Katherine Royse and Jian Peng, GDJ has filled an important niche in the scientific literature by facilitating the publication of high-quality data sets in the various fields of the Earth Sciences. By so doing, it helps promote cross-disciplinarity between these diverse fields and raises awareness between different communities of what data exists and how such data were derived, together with any limitations that may exist. In many cases, dataset developers are the unrecognised heroes of the scientific profession and GDJ offers one significant way in which these key workers can be recognised for their crucial contributions to advancing science for the benefit of all. I believe that GDJ will continue fulfilling this fundamental role in science, widening the exposure and timely publication of newly developed, innovative data sets throughout the Earth Sciences.

The Atmospheric Science Letters Editors’ Award

Dr Lili Lei

Dr Lili Lei has been an Associate Editor at Atmospheric Science Letters (ASL) only since May 2022, however in this short time she has handled four manuscripts with an average turnaround time of 33 days. This turnaround time is one of the fastest in ASL, and the Editors-in-Chief of ASL felt that Lili deserved the award for this as it encompasses one of the aims of ASL - to be a fast publication journal. Dr Lili Lei’s expertise in data assimilation and predictability has been invaluable to ASL; she finds reviewers who provide high quality reviews resulting in high-quality publications. The Editors-in-Chief of ASL would like to thank Dr Lili Lei for her commitment and enthusiasm for handling manuscripts for ASL.

Acceptance message

I am very honoured to receive the Atmospheric Science Letters Editors’ Award for 2022. Since joining the Atmospheric Science Letters Editorial board, I have enjoyed reading the work spanning a wide range of interesting topics, from data assimilation to deep learning, and from weather to climate. I am also inspired by the original work and constructive reviews. It is fantastic to have the opportunity to serve as an associate editor for the Atmospheric Science Letters. Big thanks go to editors of Atmospheric Science Letters for the nomination, and to the colleagues who share their research and provide insightful reviews through the Atmospheric Science Letters.

The Climate Resilience and Sustainability Editors’ Award

Professor Dr Wouter Peters and Dr Gerbrand Koren

Prof Dr Wouter Peters and Dr Gerbrand Koren

The nominees were selected for their dedicated service as guest editors of Climate Resilience and Sustainability (CRS). They have always handled their assignments with care and speed. Specifically, they jointly handled almost all the manuscripts of the CRS Brazil Special Issue, which had been published already and highly commented. In recognition of their outstanding contributions, both are awarded the CRS Journal Editors' Award.

Acceptance message

We gratefully accept the Climate Resilience and Sustainability Editors’ Award 2022 for our handling of the papers in the Special Issue “Climate Science for Service Partnership Brazil: Collaborative Research towards climate solutions in Brazil”. In addition to its unique scientific scope that addresses some of the most pressing climate change questions in our field today, the CSSP Brazil gives testimony to the importance of collaborations. Building trust, recognizing the value of each others contributions, sharing capacity, training new generations, and leveraging the strengths of a diverse team are core values of this program. This was reflected in the collection of papers we guided through the review process, evenly split between Brazil and UK lead authors. In addition to the time pressure always present for a Special Issue deadline, we as editors also felt the challenge to find a wide range of expert reviewers to cover the subjects well: we handled papers on the South American monsoon, agricultural policy, extreme rainfall, climate attribution, early-warning for fires, and Rio Negro water levels. We therefore gratefully acknowledge the selfless contribution of many reviewers that have made this Special Issue possible. A final thank you goes to the very supportive journal staff of “Climate Resilience and Sustainability”, and the participants of the CSSP Brazil program in the UK and Brazil. It was our pleasure to serve as editors, and we feel proud of the recognition of our collective efforts through this award.