Weather and climate research to make a responsible difference

What is your role in Met Éireann?

I manage how we support research, both within and outside of Met Éireann, and partner with colleagues here and abroad to support policymaking. Met Éireann has been carrying out research for a long time and since I joined seven years ago, I set up support for external research so, now, Met Éireann performs research and funds research too.

What does your team do?

We make sure the research we fund and perform aligns with our objectives and impacts society and then, we provide support to the researchers to make sure they achieve their planned outcomes. Met Éireann sits in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and we also work with our Civil Service and international colleagues to support policymaking – for example climate action policy. It is important to communicate how weather and climate information really benefits society.

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[ Leaping forward with lower limb research ]

What kind of research do you support?

We support the development of state-of-the-art weather and climate services – for example, building new climate projections, maps and tools to help all of us make informed decisions in the face of a changing climate. We also recently funded research at Dublin City University on the public’s perspective of weather and climate information.

Tell us about how weather and climate science has evolved recently.

Over the last decades, our improved scientific understanding and modelling of the Earth system, the growth of technology – for example in high-performance computing – the increased number of observations and, more importantly, continued international collaborations have enabled us to predict the weather at ever greater resolution in space and time.

Climate models, which project into the future at longer scale and using possible societal stories, so-called “shared socio-economic pathways”, have also made a lot of progress, for example, via improved coupling between modelling components.

What was your own journey into research?

I had a strong interest in weather as a child growing up in France, I even had my own weather station. I studied physics and in 1999, I came to Ireland to do a PhD at Trinity College Dublin, where I met my wife. I was a researcher for about 10 years and learned that chasing funding makes you a good strategist. I moved into the private sector as a project manager and I was CEO of a start-up for a while. But, I enjoy best working in the Civil Service, where I am now. Using my experience to give something back, to serve the public, is very important to me.

[ A crystal clear approach to pharmaceutical drugs ]

What advice would you give to early-stage researchers who are interested in weather or climate science?

I would say it is a field where you can make a positive impact and responsible difference to the world. We are living through a time of considerable change, digital transformation, climate emergency and geopolitical tensions. Working in the field of weather and climate science offers an opportunity to contribute to the greater good. And the field needs lots of different skill sets – physicists, mathematicians, engineers, IT and data specialists, and social science and communication experts.

And how do you take a break?

I have a wonderful family and hybrid working allows me to make more of my time with them, which I love. I also volunteer as treasurer with a Gaelic football club where we live in Galway. And, I play badminton. I used to play in France at a competitive level and, now, I enjoy the fun, the social aspect, being in the community.