Event Programme

This annual event provides a platform for undergraduates, Masters and PhD students, and early-career researchers working in fields related to meteorology and climate to present their work in a friendly environment. There will be keynote speakers and poster sessions alongside oral presentations. The conference will be in person, giving delegates the opportunity to network and socialise with peers.

Sunday 29th June 2025

An informal evening meet and greet will take place on Sunday evening. This will give you a chance to meet your fellow colleagues ahead of the conference over a few drinks and nibbles.

18.30pm - 21.00pm - Revolutions, Oxford Road, Manchester, M1 5WH

Monday 30th June 2025

TIME
09.00	Registration, Refreshment and Ice Breaker
09.30	Welcome and Opening Address Room: G.37 Prof Liz Bentley, CEO, Royal Meteorological Society
	Session 1: Atmospheric Dynamics and Climate Variability Chair: Eve Grant, Early Career & Student Conference Committee Co-Chair
09.40	On the Predictive Value of Upper Stratosphere Dynamics for the Winter NAO Lizzie Collingwood (she/her), PhD Student, British Antarctic Survey, University of Southampton
09.55	Investigating the Two-Way Dynamics between Eddies and Jet Streams Charlie Turrell (he/him), PhD Student, University of Exeter
10.10	Can Climate Models Represent Ocean-Atmosphere Feedbacks on the Winter North Atlantic Oscillation? Yvonne Anderson (she/her), PhD Student, University of Leeds
10.25	The AMV Teleconnection to the Tropical Pacific Arundhati Kalyan (she/her), Postgraduate Researcher/PhD Student, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds
10.40	Contrasting the Synoptic Drivers of the UK Heatwaves of 1976, 2003, 2018 and 2022 Nedim Sladić, Postgraduate Research Student in Climate Science, University of Leicester - NCEO
10.55	Refreshments and Networking
	Session 2: Mesoscale Processes Chair: Callum Dinnett, Early Career and Student Conference Committee
11.30	Sumatra Squalls: A Classical Storm? Ashar Aslam (they/he), PhD Student, University of Leeds
11.45	The Life Cycle of Gravity Waves Formed by the Release of Inertial Instability Leading to the Production of Clear-Air Turbulence Timothy Banyard, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Manchester
12.00	Operationalising the PLUVIA Mesoanalysis Nowcasting System Mx Billie Mackenzie (they/them), Nowcasting R&D Scientist, Met Office
12.15	Lunch and Networking Break
13.30	Poster Session 1
15.00	Refreshments and Networking Break
	Session 3: Polar, Winter and Marine Chair: Viv Atureta, Early Career and Student Conference Committee
15.45	Modelling Arctic Sea Ice Extent Using a 1D Energy Balance Model with Parameter Optimisation Lawrence Ma (he/them), PhD Candidate, University of Bath
16.00	Developments of Gravity Wave Drag Representation in the Unified Model and Impacts on Arctic Circulation Callum Dinnett (he/him), Foundation Scientist, Met Office
16.15	Present-day Risk from Winter Storms in the United Kingdom  Eloise Matthews (she/her), Deployable Project Scientist, Met Office
16.30	The Shipping Forecast: Generating automated ensemble marine forecasts Becca Chantrill-Cheyette (She/Her), Marine Forecasting Industrial Placement, Met Office
16.45	Close of Day 1
18.30	Conference Dinner

Tuesday 1st July 2025

TIME
09.00	Welcome Day 2 Room: G.37
	Session 4: Observations Chair: Josh Blannin, Early Career and Student Conference Committee Co-Chair
09.05	Measurements of SO2 at Kennaook/ Cape Grim, Tasmania, using Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIFSO2) Eve Grant (she/her), PhD Student, University of York
09.20	Tracking Urban Greenhouse Gas Emissions with EM27/SUN: A Case Study of Severe Pollution in London Joshua Perkins (he/him), Greenhouse Gas Emissions Scientist, University of Leicester / National Centre for Earth Observation
09.35	Astroclimes - Measuring the abundance of CO2 and CH4 in the Earth's atmosphere using astronomical observations Marcelo Aron Fetzner Keniger (he/him), PhD Student, University of Warwick
09.50	Rain Gauge Data: Uncertainties at a Catchment Scale and Underestimation at a Gauge Scale Ruth Dunn (she/hers/her), Doctoral Student, Newcastle University
10.05	Refreshments and Networking
	Room 1.08, 1.07, 1.06 (First Floor)
10.45	Workshop: Design Slides That Work for Everyone – no more Death by PPT! Duncan Yellowlees We all know bad slide design when we see it, but why is it bad? How do you fix it and what can we do to ensure our visuals are inclusive and accessible.  Whether you're presenting at a conference or writing an article, a good grasp on the basics of slide design is key to an academic career or project. In this interactive session you'll discover why bad slides are bad, explore how to use visual hierarchy to guide attention, and tackle the tricky balance between keeping things simple and presenting genuinely complex data. You'll learn to: •         Use cognitive load theory to eliminate slide clutter and boost comprehension •         Use colour, shape, and patterns to create clear visuals •         Know when complexity is necessary and how to present it without overwhelming your audience •         Utilise a host of quick tips and fixes to make more impactful slides. This isn't about becoming a graphic designer overnight—it's about making small, strategic changes that ensure your talk is understandable and won’t put the audience to sleep.
12.15	Lunch and Networking
	Session 5: Machine Learning Applications in Meteorology Chair: Prof Liz Bentley, Royal Meteorological Society Room: G.37
13.30	Keynote Speaker: Aurora: A Foundation Model for the Earth System Wessel Bruinsma (he/him), Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research AI for Science, Amsterdam
14.00	Explainability for Machine Learning Weather Forecasting Models Lewis Lee (he/him), AI Researcher for Weather Forecasting Industrial Placement, Met Office
14.15	Exploring Spatiotemporal Vector Autoregressive Models for Radar Nowcasting: A path towards integration with deep learning  Viv Atureta (she/her), PhD Researcher, University of Exeter
14.30	AMMeLiE: Aerosol Microphysics Machine Learning Emulator Joseph Carton-Kelly (he/him), Foundation Scientist: Aerosol Parametrizations, Met Office
14.45	Refreshments
	Session 6: Atmospheric Modelling Chair: Yvonne Anderson, Early Career and Student Conference Committee
15.30	Addressing Non-Linearities when Estimating Radiative Feedbacks Associated with Different Historical Forcing Agents Maisie Wright (she/her), Graduate Trainee, Met Office Hadley Centre
15.45	The Impact of Chlorocarbons on Tropospheric Composition: A global model study Kathryn Vest (she/her), PhD Student, Lancaster University
16.00	Reducing Uncertainty in European Climate Projections through Process-Based Model Evaluation Georgie Mercer (she/her), PhD Candidate in Mathematics, University of Exeter, Met Office
16.15	Modelling the Impact of Open Biomass Burning on UK Air Quality Damaris Y. T. Tan (she/her), PhD Student, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology / University of Edinburgh
16.30	Poster Session 2
17.45	Drinks reception and Buffet
20.00	Close of day 2

Wednesday 2nd July 2025

TIME
09.00	Welcome Back Room: G.37
	Session 7: Extreme Weather Events Chair: Alex Romero Prieto, Early Career and Student Conference Committee
09.05	Emerging Trends in Compound Rainfall Extremes in the UK from Convection-Permitting Simulations Elena Dauster (she/they), Foundation Scientist in Climate Processes and Projections, Met Office
09.20	Understanding the Drivers and Impacts of Marine Heatwaves: A Causal Network Approach Piyali Goswami (she/her), PhD Student, Department of Meteorology, University of Reading
09.35	Synoptic Drivers of Humid Heatwaves in West Africa Jack Law (he/they), PhD Student, University of Leeds
09.50	Modeling the Hydrodynamic Response of the Ionian Sea to Cyclone Ianos Javad Babagolimatikolaei (he/him), PhD candidate, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Manchester
10.05	Refreshments and Networking
	Session 8: Supply Systems in a Changing Climate Chair: Kathryn Vest, Early Career and Student Conference Committee
10.45	Understanding the Likelihood of Compound Climate Hazards for the UK Energy System Ifan Rogers (he/him), Foundation Climate Scientist Monthly to Decadal Predictability and Impacts,  Met Office
11.00	Revealing the Impact of Sudden Stratospheric Warmings on Energy Demand Regan Mudhar (they/them), PhD Researcher, University of Exeter
11.15	The Impacts of Climate Variability and Climate Change on the Indian Power System Matthew Calladine (he/him), 1st year PhD Student, Newcastle University
11.30	How Plausible are Severe and Extreme Climate Model Droughts? A water supply perspective Mason Durant (he/him), Senior Scientist, HR Wallingford
11.45	Chair: Brian Golding, President, Royal Meteorological Society Malcolm Walker Award Winning Lecture Role of the Ocean for Long Range Prediction of Atmospheric Circulation  Ned Williams (he/him), Climate Scientist, Met Office
12.15	Closing Remarks  Oral and Poster Prize Winners Announcement
12.25	Conference Conclusions
12.30	Close of Conference
12.30	Lunch - An opportunity to network with delegates attending the RMetS Annual conference
13.05	Annual Conference Poster Session - you are welcome to stay for this session
14.00	End of Event