Youth and Early Career Special Interest Group

Our Purpose
The Special Interest Group (SIG) aims to sustain, encourage, and progress the Society's engagement with and provisions for youth and early careers, as well as championing them in the Society's activities. Our focus spans Society content and activities relevant to youth (16-24 years old) and early careers (up to 10 or 15 years since starting an undergraduate degree or equivalent, dependent on career path).
Our aims are to:
- Develop content and activities to address the needs of youth and early careers working in weather and climate
- Work with the Society committees to provide strategic direction and feedback on activities
- Ensure that the needs of the youth and early careers are served well.
You can read more about our purpose and plans in the July 2023 Weather article: ‘Spotlight on the Youth and Early Career Special Interest Group’.
Who Are We?
Members of this SIG span a range of career stages, including representation of early careers from industry and academia to undergraduates to school-aged (youth) members. At present, the group is comprised of the following members, and co-chaired by Hannah Mallinson and Beth Woodhams:
Name | Affiliation |
---|---|
Hannah Mallinson | RMetS Science Engagement Manager |
Dr Beth Woodhams (Chair) | RMetS Science Engagement Officer |
Regan Mudhar | University of Exeter |
Ayesha Tandon | Carbon Brief |
Bernadette McCaffrey | WeatherQuest |
Dr Chloe Brimicombe | University of Graz |
Dr Daniel Skinner | Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia |
Euan McNaughton | Moodys RMS |
Dr Fran Morris | University of Oxford |
Dr Frederick Otu-Larbi | University of Lancaster |
Florence Shannon-Vines | University of East Anglia |
Hannah Findley | Met Office |
Kanzis Mattu | University of Strathclyde |
Kit Marie Rackley | University of East Anglia Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research |
Laura Byrne | University of Exeter |
Dr Matthew Priestley | RMetS and University of Exeter |
Ben Hutchins | RMetS and University of Reading |
Dr Ned Williams | Max Planck Institute for Meteorology |
Dr Simon Clark | Freelance video producer |
Dr Tim Banyard | University of Manchester |
What Have We Done?
In 2023, we rebranded our Early Career and Student Conference to ensure we are more inclusive of those who are not in education. We also reinvigorated our Student Ambassador scheme to ensure a strong link between the Society and University students.
In 2024, we set a new Society-wide definition of what it means to be “early career” based on feedback from those in academia and industry. Throughout 2024, we have also participated in some exciting initiatives to uplift youth and early career voices, including:
- Launching Diverse Voices, an informal lunchtime webinar to celebrate diversity and showcase different perspectives from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Recordings from the four events held so far are available on the RMetS YouTube channel: Intro to the Series, Academics of Colour, Experiences of the Met Office, Celebrating Black History Month
- Speaking on the Geography & Coffee Podcast (Ayesha, Regan)
- Writing and filming training videos for communicating science, available on the RMetS member dashboard
- Creating a Careers for Climate booklet highlighting careers which can make a positive contribution towards tackling climate change
- Holding the ‘Is a PhD for me?’ webinar for those thinking of pursuing a PhD in weather and climate. The panel discussion featured members of the SIG and the recording is now available on YouTube.
What Will We Do?
We are planning a virtual careers event for Spring 2025 and a skills workshop for the 2025 Early Career and Student Conference. We are also reinvigorating the RMetS careers webpages over the next year. In addition, the SIG is providing feedback for the Society’s Early Career peer review training initiative which will be launched in 2025.
If you would like to collaborate, or just keep up to date with what this SIG is up to, please email youthandearlycareers@rmets.org.