IGAC welcomes nominations and self-nominations to its Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) from the international community. Serving on the IGAC SSC is ideal for well-established mid to senior career scientists. IGAC is currently accepting nominations for the 2020 SSC. For 2020, nominations for scientists working in Africa, Latin America, North America, and Southeast Asia are strongly encouraged. Nominations will be accepted until 15 March 2019.For information on serving on the IGAC SSC, please see The Expectations and Role of IGAC SSC Members.
IGAC accepts both nominations and self-nominations. Please see below the requirements for each type of nomination.
Upload the nominees CV and publication list (if not part of the CV).
Upload a statement from the nominee on “Why do you want to serve on the IGAC SSC and what will you bring to IGAC?” The statement should be ~300 words or less.
Upload you CV and publication list (if not part of the CV).
Upload a letter of support from someone in the international scientific community.
Provide a statement on “Why do you want to serve on the IGAC SSC and what will you bring to IGAC?”. The statement should be ~300 words or less.
Please keep in mind that IGAC strives to have a SSC with diversity in geographical representation, gender, and expertise. To view current SSC members and their expertise, visit igacproject.org/people. For more information on the role and expectations of SSC members, please feel free to contact the IGAC Executive Officer, Megan L. Melamed (). Thank you. About IGAC The atmosphere is the integrator of the Earth system. Human emissions of pollutants and long-lived greenhouse gases into the atmosphere have caused dramatic transformations of the planet, altering air quality, climate and nutrient flows in every ecosystem. Understanding the global atmosphere requires an international network of scientists providing intellectual leadership in areas of atmospheric chemistry that need to be addressed, promoted, and accomplished through research across disciplines and geographical boundaries. Acknowledgement of this need led to the formation of the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Project in 1990. IGAC’s mission is to facilitate atmospheric chemistry research towards a sustainable world. This is achieved through IGAC’s three focal activities: fostering community, building capacity, and providing leadership. IGAC’s priorities and activities are determined and guided by an international volunteer Scientific Steering Committee (SSC). Serving on the IGAC SSC is a unique and enjoyable opportunity to contribute to the international atmospheric chemistry community.
Understanding disaster risk will enable climate experts to generate more tailored climate knowledge and information for risk reduction and management. Similarly, understanding past and future changes and uncertainty in the projection of weather and climate extremes will enable risk management experts to use climate information properly and more effectively. As such, it is important to improve the flow of knowledge between those engaged in climate research and risk management by building partnerships and collaborations between the climate research and risk reduction and management communities across the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and many other global/regional initiatives.
WCRP and its partners seek to bring together early career scientists and professionals to learn from each other on weather and climate extremes and disaster risk reduction and management.
The Institute of Advanced Studies in Climate Extremes and Risk Management aims to provide a collaborative environment for world-leading experts from IPCC Working Groups I and II and future science leaders. The programme is designed for early career researchers*, our future leaders in the field of climate science and risk management. It will be held between 21 October to 1 November 2019, Nanjing, China.
To participate in this training opportunity, please complete the application form. Details about the institute and the online application form can be found on the WCRP website.
Limited financial assistance, through a selection process, may be available and can be requested on the application form. The deadline for application is 28 March 2019.
The joint workshop will focus on new results from the multi-model experiments to quantify changes in composition, the resulting effective radiative forcing and the consequent climate responses. Data from idealised experiments are already available from PDRMIP. Data generated under the RFMIP and AerChemMIP protocols is being made available at https://esgf-node.llnl.gov/search/cmip6/.
Workshop goals:
To discuss scientific results emerging from the analysis of AerChemMIP, RFMIP and PDRMIP simulations in support of IPCC-AR6. This workshop will be of interest to all those analyzing chemistry-climate interactions, air quality-climate connections, model forcing and response. We encourage attendance from modeling centers contributing to AerChemMIP or RFMIP experiments.
Workshop Format:
The workshop will run from 9:00am on Tuesday 11th June and end at 1:00pm on Friday 14th June. The format will include science presentations (oral and poster) and discussion sessions.
More information including details on how to register and submit abstract will be sent out in the coming weeks.
Deadlines: Abstract submission and registration by April 12th 2019
Scientific Organizing Committee: Bill Collins (U Reading), Stephanie Fiedler (MPI), Piers Forster (U Leeds), Jean-François Lamarque (NCAR), Gunnar Myhre (CICERO), Vaishali Naik (GFDL), David Paynter (GFDL), Robert Pincus (U Colorado), V. Ramaswamy (GFDL), Michael Schulz (Met Norway), and Bjorn Stevens (MPI)
Local Organizing Committee: David Paynter, Vaishali Naik, and V. Ramaswamy
We are pleased to announce that the 2019 science workshop of the joint SPARC-IGAC project the Chemistry Climate Model Initiative (CCMI) will take place August 7 – 9, 2019 on the campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in Hong Kong. The meeting is very generously being hosted by Prof. Amos Tai and his research group, the Institute of Environment, Energy and Sustainability and the Earth System Science Program of the Faculty of Science at CUHK. In addition to invited and contributed presentations covering recent developments in chemistry-climate interactions, discussions will be held on the science questions and policy needs, simulations and outputs for a CCMI Phase Two.
Before the workshop, August 4 – 6, CCMI will be holding a summer school titled Earth system modelling and observations to study Earth in a changing climate. Lectures will focus on developing a critical understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of Earth-system observations and chemistry-climate models. The summer school will include a significant practical component to provide participants with an introduction to the tools and methods used to analyse model output fields (netCDF) that are publicly available within the CCMI-1 archive, including examples of how to use Earth observations to assess these models with the goal of improving our understanding of chemistry-climate processes. The summer school places a strong emphasis on capacity building and early career scientists from developing countries are strongly encouraged to apply. Some limited funds to support travel is available and the summer school will be limited to approximately 20 participants.
Please check the CCMI website (http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/ccmi/) for further details on both the science workshop and the summer school and for information on how you can participate in the discussions on the next phase of CCMI in the lead-up to the workshop.
The CCMI Co-chairs
David Plummer ()
Tatsuya Nagashima ()
Michaela Hegglin ()
Find all relevant information in the press release by the African Academy of Sciences:
15 African researchers to receive £1.5M to conduct research on impacts of climate change in Africa
In October 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its Special Report on the Implications of 1.5 degrees warming (SR 1.5), and shortly thereafter UN Environment published its 2018 Emissions Gap Report. The SR 1.5 concludes that the projected impacts of 2 degrees warming are more dangerous than initially thought and brings us closer to several critical tipping points. The report also cautions that we have only 12 years for drastic action if we are to have any chance of achieving the 1.5 degrees’ target. The UN Environment’s Emissions Gap Report establishes that, despite progress made in the global climate governance regime, greenhouse gas emissions are once again on the increase.
More than any other continent, Africa is already bearing the impact of the instability of the climate system as evidenced by increasingly unpredictable patterns of precipitation and high temperatures. These trends have devastating impacts on the continent’s economies, livelihoods and ecosystems. Drastic and urgent climate action is required to ensure that the continent does not experience worsening climate related devastation and retains some capacity to meet its development aspirations. Drastic climate action will require the engagement of all sectors, interests and stakeholders. A key gap in climate policy and governance in Africa is the weak linkage between science and policy. This gap must be addressed urgently to ensure that development strategies, policies and programmes are climate informed.
The African Academy of Sciences (The AAS), the United Kindgoms’ Department for International Development (DFID) Weather and Climate information SERvices for Africa (WISER) programme and the Africa Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa are today announcing the implementation of a multimillion dollar initiative to support Africa-led climate science research through the Climate Research for Development (CR4D) in Africa initiative. The CR4D initiative was conceptualized at the Africa Climate Conference in 2013 as a mechanism to strengthen links between climate science research and climate information needs to support development planning in Africa. The initiative addresses climate research priority areas that have been identified in Africa by African researchers.
Over the next year, CR4D will support research into identified priority areas for climate change and development linkages. The research will cover foundational climate science, impacts, information and research translation and engagement with policy and decision-making communities. The goal will be to produce research outputs that inform policy in climate sensitive sectors to better prepare Africa to deal with the impacts of climate change.
Dr James Murombedzi of the ACPC noted that “While Africa is responsible for only 4% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, 65% of the African population is directly impacted by climate change. It is therefore imperative that climate action must be stepped up to deliver high impact outcomes for African populations, and to ensure the resilience of economies, ecosystems and infrastructure on the continent. The framework for scaling up climate action was put in place in the 2015 Paris Agreement. The realization of the ideals of this agreement will be determined by the national frameworks, strategies and policies that are put in place to implement national and sub-national climate actions. The CR4D initiative will enhance support for improved climate information and services to contribute to climate sensitive planning. This, in turn, will contribute towards ensuring human and environmental security, improved investment policies, as well as institutional developments to manage potential threats from climate change.”
The Executive Director of The AAS, Prof. Nelson Torto says, “With smallholder farms, most being rainfed, forming about 80% of farmed land in sub-Saharan Africa and given that most of sub-Saharan Africa’s population draws its livelihood from smallholder farming,[1]the CR4D initiative will be a huge addition to Africa’s quest to transform itself through science. Tackling climate change in Africa requires that African researchers are supported to ensure they have the best understanding of the problems to be better prepared to provide and amplify solutions. The AAS is particularly proud to be part of this noble initiative and we look forward to celebrating its impact in all climate sensitive sectors including agriculture, health, water resources, tourism and other areas of socio-economic development.”
CR4D will award 1-year research grants to 15 African climate researchers of up to USD 130,000. Through The AAS Rising Research Leaders programme, grantees will be supported to develop as independent research leaders through training, mentoring, and networking opportunities that will enable international collaborations. CR4D candidates must be hosted by or affiliated with a university, research institute or other eligible institution of higher education in Africa. They must hold a PhD in climate or related sciences and/or have a proven track record of high-quality, impactful research in a relevant field. Applicants must have a clearly defined scientific research proposal and all African nationals are eligible to apply.
Environment and climate change are strategic focus areas of The Academy’s five-year strategic plan, 2018 to 2022 that includes health and wellbeing; social sciences and humanities; natural sciences; and policy and governance.
The African Academy of Sciences The AAS is a Pan-African organisation with headquarters in Kenya. The Academy has a tripartite mandate of pursuing excellence by recognising scholars and achievers; providing advisory and think-tank functions for shaping the continent’s strategies and policies; and implementing key science, technology and innovation programmes that impact on developmental challenges through the agenda setting and funding platform – the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA).
Registration is now open for the 4th Workshop – 26-28 June 2019 / 3rd Training School – 24-25 June 2019 of the Atmospheric Composition and Asian Monsoon (ACAM) activity.
the workshop and training school will be held at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi, Malaysia
