Heatwaves, floods and health concerns – special lecture on climate change and how we’re dealing with it

Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change delivers first annual lecture - News release

Imperial College London news release

For immediate release
Thursday 15 May 2008

Extreme floods, droughts and heatwaves, and how scientists are battling to deal with the effects of our rapidly warming planet, will be the subject of the first annual Grantham Lecture at Imperial College London on Thursday 22 May 2008.

Journalists are invited to the lecture, which will be given by Professor Sir Brian Hoskins, world-leading meteorologist and Director of Imperial's Grantham Institute for Climate Change.

Sir Brian will deliver the lecture at Imperial College on 22 May 2008

Speaking at Imperial's South Kensington campus, Sir Brian will describe how global warming is affecting weather patterns, and how it could lead to extreme weather events such as scorching hot summers in Europe, and super- powered storms like Hurricane Katrina becoming more and more frequent.

During the lecture Sir Brian will outline the dramatic effects that climate change and extreme weather could have on the planet including: how rising temperatures are threatening to reduce biodiversity and damage important agricultural land; how rising sea levels could threaten the supply of fresh drinking water in some developing countries; and how changing temperatures could mean tropical diseases like malaria take hold in previously unaffected countries.

He will illustrate how researchers at Imperial College hope to tackle these problems, and how they are also working on alternative fuels and carbon capture technologies to reduce the levels of warming greenhouse gasses currently emitted into the atmosphere.

Speaking before the lecture, Sir Brian said: "When people talk about climate change, they often assume that changes will be slow and steady. However, some evidence suggests that as the climate changes, we will see extreme events, like the very hot British summer of 2003 and the contrasting summer floods in England in 2007, occurring more often.

"In my lecture, I’ll look at the evidence for this, outline some of the consequences of volatile weather and climate change, and show what’s being done here at Imperial to tackle these consequences."

Sir Brian's lecture, entitled, "Reflections on climate change and what we can do about it" takes place on Thursday 22 May 2008 from 18.30 – 19.30 in the Clore Lecture Theatre, Huxley Building, on Imperial's South Kensington campus.

Entry to this event is by ticket only. Free tickets must be reserved in advance by emailing amy.thompson@imperial.ac.uk

-Ends-

For more information please contact:

Danielle Reeves
Imperial College London Press Office,
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 2198
Out of hours duty press officer: +44 (0)7803 886248
Email: Danielle.reeves@imperial.ac.uk

Notes to Editors:

1. About Professor Sir Brian Hoskins CBE FRS

Sir Brian gained a first in Mathematics and a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge in 1966 and 1970 respectively. After completing his PhD he became a Post Doctoral Fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the USA, and then a visiting scientist at the University of Princeton before moving to the University of Reading in 1971. At Reading he was appointed Reader in 1976 and then Head of the Department of Meteorology in 1990 – a post he held until 1996.

Sir Brian is a Royal Society Research Professor. He is review editor for Chapter 3 and author of the technical summary of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. Sir Brian has been the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Met Office since 1995. He was elected as a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences in 2002 and appointed as a Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the same year. He was knighted in 2007 for his services to environmental science.

Sir Brian's previous roles have included vice-chair of the World Climate Research Programme (2000-04), President of the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS) (1991-95), President of the Royal Meteorological Society (1998-2000) and member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (1998- 2005).

2. About the Grantham Institute for Climate Change

Imperial established the Grantham Institute for Climate Change in February 2007 following a £12 million donation from Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham. The Institute is stimulating a research drive to develop mitigation techniques to counter the effects of our changing climate, and to have a direct impact on public and private policy. So far, it has funded 7 new PhD research posts on subjects including carbon sequestration, flood and drought risks, novel photovoltaics, climate impacts on biodiversity, and wind energy. A further 12 PhD studentships will be created over the next few months.

The Grantham Institute for Climate Change at the heart of Imperial's South Kensington Campus provides a focus for multidisciplinary research drawing on the existing expertise across the College’s Faculties of Natural Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and the Tanaka Business School.

Website: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/climatechange 

3. About Imperial College London

Imperial College London - rated the world's fifth best university in the 2007 Times Higher Education Supplement Univers ity Rankings - is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research that attracts 12,000 students and 6,000 staff of the highest international quality. Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and business, delivering practical solutions that improve quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.

Website: www.imperial.ac.uk