‘If I think about what this means, I want to cry’: what happens when a city loses its university? When Essex University’s Southend campus opened, it was a message of hope for a ‘left behind’ UK seaside town. Its closure will be felt far beyond its 800 students, some of whom will not get their degr...

This is a sad situation and “only” the closure of a small campus of a larger university (not a whole uni). Hopefully we don’t see the a complete closure any time soon…

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

How to deal with defecting MPs Voters should be able to force parliamentarians who change parties to face the electorate

Thoughts in the FT on why I don't like the idea of an automatic by election if an MP changes party - but understand why some people do, along with a possible compromise...

How to deal with defecting MPs - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT

Management of legacy landfill This POSTnote outlines evidence on environmental risks from legacy landfill sites in England, related policy and regulation, remediation and reducing risks.

Great to see this POSTnote on Legacy Landfill published! This was one of the things I was very keen to be involved with whilst seconded to Parliament #landfill #climatechange #environment post.parliament.uk/research-bri...

Consider the impact of heavy rain Check if your property is at risk from flooding Check flood advice in your area Prepare a flood kit Avoid driving through flood water

Take care if you are travelling in heavy rain, even moderate rain can reduce your ability to see and be seen.

Please don't walk or drive through flood water.
Take a look at some of our tips and advice to stay #WeatherReady
bit.ly/3iEb7kd

Head of Climate and International Policy | The Wildlife Trusts The Wildlife Trusts are a grassroots movement of people from a wide range of backgrounds and all walks of life, who believe that we need nature and nature needs us. We have more than 944,000 members, ...

This looks like a great role that I’m sure some people here would be interested in: www.wildlifetrusts.org/jobs/head-cl...

Young people from all backgrounds to get opportunity to study abroad as UK-EU deal unlocks Erasmus+ The UK and EU have agreed that the UK will join the Erasmus+ scheme in 2027, along with further progress in other areas of the UK-EU reset.

This is brilliant news! My daughter loves learning Spanish so, if she goes to uni in a few years, it’s great to know this is an option again. Such a shame for students who’ve missed out over recent years though.

www.gov.uk/government/n...

⏳ Abstract submission countdown is already on!
-30 DAYS to go!
👇 Your next steps?
✔️Your Copernicus.org login details
✔️ An EGU membership (https://www.egu.eu/0ZFO4P/
✔️ Your abstract🥳!
Submit here: https://www.egu26.eu/ or email egu26@copernicus.org for help.
📅 Deadline: 15 January 2026, 13.00CET

PhD Positions I have three funded projects currently available. Closing date 10 December 2025: Redeveloping Central England Temperature: Modernising a Historic Climate Series (CASE project with Met Office) (main supervisor: Tim Osborn; co-supervisors: Stephen Packman, Met Office, Ed Hawkins, University of Reading, Andrew Friedman, UEA) Closing date 7 January 2026: Causes and Syndromes of Extreme Wildfires in Tropical and Extratropical Forests (main supervisor: Matt Jones; co-supervisor: Tim Osborn) Closing date 7 January 2026: Predicting and Mitigating Megafires under Climate Change (CASE project with WTW) (main supervisor: Matt Jones; co-supervisor: Tim Osborn)

I currently have three funded PhD positions available for applications. Links for more info and to apply are in my profile page: research-portal.uea.ac.uk/en/persons/t...

Interesting placement of the Türkiye and Australia pavilions. I hope they’re playing nicely together! #COP30

Really enjoying Peter Betts’ The Climate Diplomat so I thought I’d bring him along to Belém. #COP30 #climatechange

#COP30 AGENDA FIGHT: Battle looms over which issues to discuss at COP30 (an "agenda fight")

Proposed late additions to agenda:

* trade
* finance
* deforestation
* ambition
* reporting

Hence, now on 4th version of agenda (!)

This must be resolved before negotiations begin 🧵

1/

Queen Mary experts head to COP30 in Brazil Queen Mary University of London is sending a delegation of five researchers to Belém, Brazil, to participate in COP30, the 30th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference. Set in the Amazon from ...

From London to the Amazon!

Queen Mary is sending five researchers to #COP30 in Belém, Brazil, to collaborate with international partners and showcase how the University is taking action to combat climate change through research www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2...

EGU 2025 EGU 2025

Not convinced? Here's an overview of some of the science-policy sessions from 2025: earthenvironment.helmholtz.de/changing-ear...

Work on the Geo #SciencePolicy interface? Heading to #EGU26 ? Why not submit (your second, EOS!) abstract to "Strengthening Policy Through Science: Insights from the interface"?! meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU26/sessio...

Ministers tell Environment Agency to wave planning applications through Exclusive: Officials say they have been told to do as little as legally possible to prevent approvals for housebuilding

Being careful with my wording, I suspect that there could be a possibility that focusing on short term, narrow targets (eg. house building) could, possibly exacerbate future risks (eg. flooding, overheating) www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Image of a wind turbine in a sheep field with text reading: We want to hear from you about your priorities fro the environment, climate change and nature.

We've launched our Environment in Focus inquiry, asking you for your ideas on what the committee should look in to.

Find out more: committees.parliament.uk/work/9336/th...

Climate crisis will increase frequency of lightning-sparked wildfires, study finds These wildfires tend to burn in more remote areas and grow larger faster, posing a higher risk to public safety and health

This is fine -dot- gif

Department “Away Day” today a full 1 floor “Away” from my office. It looks like being very much a full “Day” though, so that bit is accurate.

Excellent news this week that I’ve been promoted to Reader (from SL). Very happy but always amazed at how slow the academic promotion cycle is; my application went in almost 9 months ago!

Summer 2025 is the warmest on record for the UK Provisional Met Office statistics confirm that summer 2025 is officially the warmest summer on record for the UK.

New analysis from @metoffice.gov.uk showing that the record-breaking hot UK summer of 2025 has been made much more likely by human-induced climate change and such a hot summer would be expected about once every 5 years in current climate. www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/new...

Counting down to zero: the final warning from a climate diplomat The long read: Before Peter Betts died in 2023, he wanted to pass on what he had learned over many years of negotiating at Cops – including how Paris 2015 was saved at the last bell

Some super interesting reflections from a UK (and EU) climate diplomat of the Paris Agreement period. Will definitely get hold of the book when it’s out #climatechange #climatepolicy www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Research and Development Fellowship Programme 2026/27 - Defra Jobs - UK Government We’re delighted to launch our 2026 R&D Fellowship Programme for Defra. Join us in using science and analysis to tackle some of today’s biggest policy challenges. For a third year, we’re offering the b...

Defra fellowships for 2026/27 are open applications up to 16th September: defrajobs.co.uk/roles/resear...

Storm Floris latest: 'Do not travel' and 'danger to life' warnings as storm hits UK Storm Floris is hitting the UK, bringing winds of up to 90mph. A yellow weather warning is in force for millions in the north of the country, with an amber alert fast approaching. Follow the latest be...

Storm Floris looks like it could cause a lot of disruption. Stay safe and think about how to adapt plans. news.sky.com/story/storm-...

Nordic countries hit by ‘truly unprecedented’ heatwave | Climate crisis | The Guardian Scientists record longest streak of temperatures higher than 30C in region in records going back to 1961

"A weather station in the Norwegian part of the Arctic Circle recorded temperatures above 30C (86F) on 13 days in July." www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Would you know how to form a #community #flood group? What are the first steps when getting started? Any important things to consider?

Download our ‘Guide to Forming a Flood Action Group’ booklet for an in-depth manual 🔨🤝 thefloodhub.co.uk/wp-content/u...

Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water | LinkedIn Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water | 2,488 followers on LinkedIn. Solutions focused research into climate, biodiversity & water issues on the islands of Ireland & Great Britain | The...

New PhD - full funding for UK/Irish applicant - start Jan 26 - Design and evaluation of multi-functional Blue Green Infrastructure under climate change tinyurl.com/42s8rade: Clare Walsh, Vassilis Glenis & myself, Newcastle Uni. Part of Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water lnkd.in/e5g6nz6V

Incidentally, as well as cancelling sports day, 2 year groups have been moved to remote learning today as the school building is too hot. The school building is less than 20 years old. We've got a long way to go on adaptation!

For the 2nd time in 5 years my kids' school sports day has been cancelled because of hot weather (not Covid, that was a 3rd cancellation). I'm glad they've made the call - its too hot to make sure 100s of kids are ok - but maybe need to think about the timing in the future! #heatwave

Big step to #BeatPollution!

Countries have just agreed to establish a new global science-policy panel to support the management of chemicals and waste and to prevent pollution.

The panel will equip countries with the science needed #ForPeopleForPlanet: bit.ly/45z01DE

Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.