UPDATE 03.03 – Joining Instructions
ONLINE – For those joining online, if you have not received the link via email – please join the stream using this link. It will start at 15.00 GMT – https://youtube.com/live/7zqdiYGi9M4
IN-PERSON – For those joining in person, the event will be held in Queens Tower Rooms, Level 1 Sherfield Building, South Kensington Campus. Please arrive no earlier than 14.45 to check-in. A map of the campus can be found here: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/visit/campuses/south-kensington/
Global Development Lab Annual Lecture with Guest Speaker Professor Celeste Saulo
Time: 15.00
Location: Queens Tower Rooms, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, SW7 2AZ / online
Extreme weather and climate-related hazards are reshaping development pathways, disrupting economies, and testing the capacity of institutions to protect lives and livelihoods. At the same time, scientific understanding and predictive capabilities have advanced rapidly, offering unprecedented opportunities to anticipate risk.
In this lecture, WMO Secretary-General Prof. Celeste Saulo will examine how advances in Earth observation, data integration, and forecasting have transformed hazard anticipation, and why uneven capacity to use this information strategically leads to unequal outcomes. Through selected examples, she will show how heat, floods, storms, and droughts trigger cascading impacts: from food and water stress and health risks to disrupted supply chains, productivity losses, and setbacks to development.
This gap between scientific capability and its effective use underpins the resilience divide. Some societies act on risk before it materializes; others absorb losses not for lack of science, but for lack of capacity to use it. Drawing on the work of the World Meteorological Organization and initiatives such as Early Warnings for All, the lecture will highlight the practical bridges needed to convert science into scalable public value: strong national meteorological and hydrological services, end-to-end early warning systems, last-mile communication, and partnerships that align innovation, policy, and delivery.
The lecture will argue that equitable access to actionable weather and climate intelligence is not a technical luxury but strategic infrastructure: essential for risk management, sustainable development, and resilience in an increasingly volatile world.
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Agenda:
- 14.50- Arrival and registration
- 15.05- Opening remarks
- 15.10-15.50- Guest Lecture delivered by Prof. Saulo
- 15.50-16.10- Audience Q&A
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Professor Celeste Saulo was appointed Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) by the Nineteenth World Meteorological Congress (Cg-19), held in 2023. She is the first female as well as the first South American Secretary-General. Her four-year term began on 1 January 2024. Prior to this, she served as the Director of the National Meteorological Service of Argentina since 2014 and was the First Vice-President of the WMO.
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Additional information:
This event will hybrid. Those who register for the online stream will receive the link before the event. If you do not have an Imperial College London account, you will need to create an account before registering for the event. If you have any issues, please contact f.skillicorn@imperial.ac.uk and we can make a note of your registration.