Research Briefings
13 December 2011 A research briefing as to the work of the Research Centre was provided to Professor Thomas Stocker (co-Chair of the next IPCC report, working group 1) with presentations provided by Prof Ric Williams (UoL), Dr Simon Holgate (NOC), Dr Mark Tamisiea (NOC) and Prof. Jonathan Sharples, as well as PhD students and researchers attending. Click here for more details.
16 June 2011. Climate change briefing, to Lord Marland, Under Secretary of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and Bishop James.
Lord Marland expressed how he benefited from the briefing: “(…) I found our briefing invaluable. It is, however, fair to say that the Department of Energy and Climate Change had a strong team of researchers and experts so I did not go into the briefing without significant knowledge. However, the impact of climate change on the oceans and the seas was demonstrated in greater detail through the briefing I received. Clearly I was very impressed by my visit to Liverpool and the information provided helped me better argue the case for climate change in the Lords.”
Bishop James suggested the visit following two successful symposiums on climate change hosted by NOC and the University of Liverpool.
30 July 2012 Research briefing to Esther McVey, MP for Wirral West
A briefing on the research work conducted at National Oceanography Centre (NOC) Liverpool and the links with the University of Liverpool was provided by Prof. Andrew Wilmott (NOC), Dr Kevin Horsburgh (NOC), Dr Judith Wolff (NOC) and Prof. Ric Williams (Liverpool).
- 23 June 2012 Research on climate change and sea level briefing to Professor Carl Wunsch (MIT/Oxford).
Short talks were provided on the climate and sea level research by Prof. Ric Williams (Liverpool), Prof. Chris Hughes (NOC), Dr Mark Tamisiea (NOC) and Prof. Jonathan Sharples (NOC/Liverpool).
- 10 February 2011. Symposium on the 'Science of Climate Change', including presentation on 'Climate change and carbon emissions' together with presentations by Sir David King, Andrew Miller MP and Lawrence McGinty. Click here to view the presentations.
17 March 2010. Climate change and sea level briefing to Sir David King. Professor Sir David King, former Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government, and recently appointed Chancellor of the University of Liverpool, visited the National Oceanography Laboratory. Presentations were given by Prof. Andrew Willmott, Prof. Ric Williams,Prof. Chris Hughes, Prof. Richard Burrows and Prof. Andy Plater.
Image: Professor Sir David King (centre) with members of the Research Centre for Marine Sciences and Climate Change
10 March 2010, Climate change briefing to Archbishop Kelly and other civic leaders.
21 February 2010. 'Why trust a climate scientist?' A climate change briefing to Faith4Change, Talk and panel discussion with Bishop James and Church leaders in Merseyside.
3 September 2009. Climate change briefing to Bishop James of Liverpool. and other civic leaders (click here for programme and attendess). Talks were given by Prof Ric Williams, DEOS (A Wider View of the Climate System), Prof Chris Hughes, POL (Sea Level Science: Global and Local Relevance) and Prof Jonathan Sharples, POL (The Role of our Shelf Seas in Climate Change)
This event led to a mention on Radio 4 thought for the day, 18 March 2010 by Bishop James. Link for the transcript.
http://www.liverpool.anglican.org/index.php?p=1137
Bishop James regarded the briefings as extremely valuable:
“They had a big impact on me because clearly the scientific facts underpinning the argument for climate change are essential to the public debate. Therefore when I had the opportunity of visiting the [Proudman] laboratory myself I was very encouraged because the presentation, although scientific, was presented in such a way that a lay person, like myself, could understand the argument.”
“I found that in different forums that [understanding the argument] was really important. In the House of Lords, where I take part in debates on the environment, to know that there was scientific evidence to underpin the arguments was very important to me personally."
"When you do ‘Thought for the day’ on the today programme, it’s at ten to eight in the morning, it’s one of the prime time slots. In between quarter to eight and quarter past eight that’s when the audience of the today programme peaks. And you are talking to millions of people at that particular moment, and many of them are opinion formers in our society. When I was doing that broadcast [18th of March 2010], I was able to show how my visit to the Proudman Laboratory had influenced my own thinking, and what you hope in such broadcasts is that you sow a seed and that somebody will then register and think “oh yeah, that’s where the research is done” and then if they need to follow it up they can”
Image: Prof Andrew Willmott (Director of POL) and the Bishop of Liverpool at the Climate System and our Oceans Meeting - Sep 2009