The University of Oxford has successfully renewed its membership of the Met Office Academic Partnership (MOAP) for a further three years. The Met Office initiative is a formal collaboration to advance the science and skill of weather and climate prediction and Oxford is one of eight universities in the partnership along with Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Exeter, Leeds, Reading and UCL.
MOAP brings together world-class expertise around a focused programme of joint research to tackle key challenges in weather and climate science and prediction and it aims to secure the UK’s position in leading the world in weather forecasting and climate prediction.
To foster the partnership, the Met Office has invested in jointly funded chairs at each university to act as leaders for joint research programmes and related activities within each institution and across MOAP. Professor Tim Woollings is joint chair of MOAP at Oxford: ‘We are delighted that our partnership with the Met Office is continuing and developing, and that the wider MOAP network is flourishing and growing. We face many challenges in understanding how our climate is changing and how to both mitigate and adapt to these changes. Networks such as MOAP help to bring our national expertise together to most effectively meet these challenges. Joint projects provide academic breadth and insight to the Met Office and give Oxford scientists access to data, modelling and expertise at the Met Office.’
Oxford’s partnership with the Met Office builds on key strengths in areas such as climate dynamics and impacts, spanning domains from the deep ocean to sub-Saharan Africa and the high Arctic. ‘We are also developing new activities,’ continues Professor Woollings, ‘for example in high-resolution modelling and the use of AI in climate prediction, and are keen to expand our networks further. Anyone with queries or interests in connecting with the Met Office and/or MOAP, please do get in touch.’
Find out more about the Met Office Academic Partnership with Oxford.