Piers Forster

British climate scientist and professor

Piers Forster

Nationality| British
Education|

* Imperial College (BSc, 1990)
* University of Reading (Ph.D, 1994)

Awards| American Geophysical Union Fellow (2019)
Scientific career
Institutions| University of Leeds
Thesis| Measuring and modelling UV radiation (1994)
Doctoral advisor| Keith Shine

Piers Forster is a Professor of Physical Climate Change and Director of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures at the University of Leeds.[1][2] A physicist by training, his research focuses on quantifying the different human causes of climate change and the way the Earth responds. He is best known for his work on radiative forcing, climate sensitivity, aviation-climate effects, climate engineering, climate modelling and carbon budgets. He has contributed heavily to the writing of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, including acting as a Lead Author for the Fourth[3] and Fifth[4] Assessment Reports, and a Co-ordinating Lead Author for the Sixth Report.[5][6] He also acted as a Lead Author of the IPCC 2018 Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C.[7][8] He leads an international effort to annually update climate indictors, the Indicators of Global Climate Change project.[9]

## Career

[edit]

Forster was educated at Imperial College, London, where he gained a BSc in Physics in 1990. He was subsequently awarded a PhD in Meteorology by the University of Reading in 1994. After research posts at the Universities of Reading, Colorado and Melbourne he was appointed a Reader at the University of Leeds in 2005. He has been Professor of Physical Climate Change at Leeds since 2008.[10][11]

Forster led the EU Horizon CONSTRAIN project[12] and was principal investigator of the Integrated Assessment of Geoengineering Proposals project.[13][14] He has doubts as to whether geoengineering could be deployed effectively.[15] Forster is also trustee of a UK rainforest-protection charity United Bank of Carbon.[11][16] He has a number of UK government and industry roles including being a member of the UK Climate Change Committee.[17] Since 2023 he has been interim Chair of the Committee, succeeding Lord Deben.[18]

## Awards

[edit]

* 2011 Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award[19]
* 2019 American Geophysical Union Fellow[20]
* 2023 Natural Environment Research Council Societal Impact Award Winner[21]
* 2019, 2020, 2021,2022, 2023 Clarivate Web of Science, Highly Cited Researcher[22]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Environment, Faculty of. "Professor Piers Forster | School of Earth and Environment | University of Leeds". environment.leeds.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
2. ^ "Profiles Archive". Priestley Centre for Climate Futures, University of Leeds. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
3. ^ "Chapter 2: Changes in Atmospheric Constituents and in Radiative Forcing". www.ipcc.ch. Archived from the original on 16 January 2010.
4. ^ "IPCC Summary for Policymakers, Drafting Authors". www.climatechange2013.org. Archived from the original on 23 March 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
5. ^ "IPCC Authors (beta)". apps.ipcc.ch. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
6. ^ Brumfiel, Geoff (25 August 2011). "Cloud formation may be linked to cosmic rays". Scientific American. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
7. ^ Summary for Policymakers (PDF), Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), nd, retrieved 8 October 2018, ""IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty"
8. ^ Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C (Report). Incheon, Republic of Korea: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 7 October 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
9. ^ Forster, Piers M.; Smith, Chris; Walsh, Tristram; Lamb, William F.; Lamboll, Robin; Hall, Bradley; Hauser, Mathias; Ribes, Aurélien; Rosen, Debbie; Gillett, Nathan P.; Palmer, Matthew D.; Rogelj, Joeri; von Schuckmann, Karina; Trewin, Blair; Allen, Myles (5 June 2024). "Indicators of Global Climate Change 2023: annual update of key indicators of the state of the climate system and human influence". Earth System Science Data. 16 (6): 2625–2658. Bibcode:2024ESSD...16.2625F. doi:10.5194/essd-16-2625-2024. hdl:20.500.11850/678430. ISSN 1866-3508.
10. ^ University of Leeds, Professor Forster's home page
11. ^ a b "People". UBoC, United Bank of Carbon. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
12. ^ "Novel modelling tools yield up-to-date climate reports". CORDIS | European Commission. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
13. ^ Carrington, Damian (26 November 2014). "Reflecting sunlight into space has terrifying consequences, say scientists". Guardian. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
14. ^ "Who We Are". IAGP, Integrated Assessment of Engineering Proposals. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
15. ^ Forster, Piers (2 February 2015). "Not enough time for geoengineering to work?". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
16. ^ Wilson, Matthew (13 March 2015). "The tea room that planted 3M trees around the world to cosmic rays". Financial Times. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
17. ^ "Professor Piers Forster joins Committee on Climate Change". 3 December 2018.
18. ^ Dooks, Tom (22 June 2023). "Ministers appoint interim Chair to the CCC". Climate Change Committee. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
19. ^ "New Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Awards announced". Royal Society. 15 December 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
20. ^ Ishii, Faith (15 August 2019). "2019 Class of AGU Fellows Announced". Eos. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
21. ^ "Announcing the NERC Impact Awards 2023 winners". www.ukri.org. 30 November 2023. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
22. ^ "Highly Cited Researchers". Clarivate. Retrieved 29 July 2024.

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