Personal profile

Biography

Katie is a Tyndall Centre Research Lecturer at the University of East Anglia. She has over thirteen years’ experience working on multidisciplinary projects focused on the integrated assessment of climate-related risks and adaptation strategies. She has expertise in developing methodologies and modelling tools to assess social and economic consequences of climate change; assessing adaptation strategies from an interdisciplinary perspective; and the co-production of policy-relevant adaptation and climate impact inventories.

Before becoming a Tyndall Research Lecturer, Katie worked as a Research Fellow at the Tyndall Centre since 2019, investigating the Implications of Global Warming of 1.5-4°C in Six Vulnerable Countries for BEIS, providing expertise on the economic modelling of country-level direct and indirect economic costs of fluvial flooding, changes in agricultural yields, and coastal flooding.

Current Projects:

Katie is part of the UKRI/Defra funded Maximising UK Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC) Hub, set up to respond to the urgent need for a comprehensive, transdisciplinary framework to strengthen the UK’s resilience to cascading climate impacts. Katie is the UEA PI leading work to interpret outputs from the OpenCLIM project (see below) to support active, place-based adaptation activities.

She is a Co-PI on the Future Fens: Integrated Adaptation and Climate Change Risk Assessment project, funded by the Environment Agency, to inform the Fens2100+ programme and Integrated Assessment Task force. The project provides the first in-depth place-based climate risk assessment for the Fens, providing and communicating technical data, maps and an analysis of future climate information to a wide range of stakeholders, with outputs available here.

Katie is also Co-I on a UKRI/Horizon Europe project Cross-EU (Cross-sectoral Framework for Socio-Economic Resilience to Climate Change and Extreme Events on Europe), supporting the overall co-design and operationalisation of the Cross-EU method to harmonise risk and impact analysis across the wider project and compiling a new climate hazard and risk inventory for the EU.

Recently Completed Projects:

Katie has recently completed work on the DESNZ funded project Climate Services for a Net Zero resilient world (CS-N0W) analysing climate-related risks at a Global, Regional and Country Scale, providing scientific knowledge to contribute to evidence-based climate policy in the UK and internationally.

Other recent projects include the OpenCLIM (Open CLimate IMpacts modelling framework) project with the overarching aim to develop and apply a first UK integrated assessment for climate impacts and adaptation. Katie led the drought and water supply theme, assessed heat-related risks and developed the first formal UK Adaptation Inventory to explore current adaptation progress, gaps, and options that could be included within the integrated assessment models.

Key Research Interests

Katie's key research interests include:

- The role of adaptation data and reporting in supporting current and future decision making, including the development of methods to enhance the utility of adaptation inventories and reporting to larger assessment processes.

- The integrated assessment of climate risks, social and economic impacts, and adaptation strategies. Key aspects include developing a range of methodologies and modelling tools to assess social and direct and indirect economic impacts of climate change, particularly related to drought, water scarcity, high temperatures and heatwaves.

Academic Background

Katie worked as a Senior Research Associate at the Environmental Change Institute (ECI), University of Oxford from 2011-2020. She contributed to numerous projects developing integrated models and tools to assess climate and weather-related risks, and the role of adaptation actions, on society and the economy.

Katie completed her Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge modelling the economic and social impacts of drought events under future projections of climate change and worked at the University of Cambridge at 4CMR (The Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research).

Administrative Posts

Katie is the UEA theme lead for the Tyndall Centre's Catalysing Adaptation and Resilience Theme and a member of the:

  • Royal Meteorological Society Science Engagement Committee (March 2024 – Present)
  • Review Editor on Climate Risk Management for Frontiers in Climate Journal (Jan 2023 – present)
  • Member UKRI Talent Peer Review College (2023 – present)

Teaching Interests

Katie is the BSc Environmental Sciences (and variants) deputy course director.

Katie is the module organiser for Data Skills II (1st year) and contributes to other modules including: Our World (1st year), Climate Change: Science and Policy (2nd year) and Natural Resources & Environmental Economics (3rd year & Masters).

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • SDG 13 - Climate Action

Education/Academic qualification

Doctor of Philosophy, Modelling the economic and social consequences of drought under future projections of climate change, University of Cambridge

1 Oct 200712 Dec 2011

Award Date: 28 Apr 2012

Master of Science, Climate Change, University of East Anglia

30 Sept 200430 Jun 2005

Award Date: 12 Jul 2006

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or