£3m awarded for Leeds climate change research
The University has been awarded £3 million by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to shed light on why the climate is warming at an uneven rate with pronounced pauses and surges.
Professor Piers Forster
The project, which will be led by Professor Piers Forster from the School of Earth and Environment, is funded via NERC’s new ‘highlight topics’ – one of the research council’s new ways of funding strategic research.
Professor Angela Hatton, chair of NERC’s Science Board, said: “Highlight topics are designed to give the scientific community a greater role in identifying areas that need strategic research funding. This first group of projects will provide important knowledge to help society deal with problems including biodiversity loss, nanoparticle pollution and environmental change.”
The eight projects selected align with NERC’s strategic vision of putting environmental science at the heart of sustainable management of the planet.
Professor Forster said: “It is exciting that the University of Leeds is leading a UK-wide project to make better prediction of global temperature changes over 10-year periods. The research we are proposing is at the cutting edge of climate science and will help ensure the UK remains world-leading.”
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