Clare Goodess, researcher in environmental sciences at the University of East Anglia, will deliver the inaugural address for the new URV academic year with a session entitled "Why UEA has declared a climate and biodiversity emergency".

Dr Goodess joined the internationally renowned Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in 1982, where she is currently a lead researcher. Her current research interests focus on the development and use of regional climate data, particularly in relation to change projections, extreme events and the representation of uncertainty. She works at the interface between climate modellers and users of climate information, where communication, particularly with decision makers and policy makers as well as researchers modelling the impacts of climate change, is increasingly important.

Her earlier practical experience investigating past climate change and variability and links with atmospheric circulation, as well as statistical downscaling from the coarser global climate model scale to the higher spatial scales relevant for users of climate projections, provides a valuable context for many of my ongoing research projects and activities. These focus on the use of regional climate information in impacts, adaptation and vulnerability assessments for a number of different sectors including health, agriculture, tourism, renewable energy, and the built environment and infrastructure. She has coordinated and worked on many major UK and European climate change projects, together with projects focused on the Mediterranean, South America and the Caribbean.

Having worked on climate change scenarios and with users of these scenarios over a couple of decades, she is well positioned to play a leading role in the current development of climate services. Her current projects focus on the development of climate services for the renewable energy sector and on the development of climate and health country profiles for the World Health Organisation, as well as collaborative work on sustainable and healthy cities. She also took part in the Horizon 2020 SECLI-FIRM project on the added value of seasonal climate forecasting for decision-making in integrated risk management, focusing on the energy and water sectors.

Clare Goodess’s experience and expertise has been required for a wide range of international activities. She was the lead author of the 2012 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. She is co-chair of the Working Group on Regional Climate of the World Climate Research Programme, with responsibilities including overseeing the CORDEX international initiative on regional downscaling. As for the Commission on Climatology and the Commission for Basic Systems of the World Meteorological Organization, she is a member of the Inter-Programme Expert Team on Regional Climate Activities.