Why did I become a scientist?

This is a question I love to ask other people – I love to find out why they first embarked on their career, or project, or why they chose a specific degree, etc. Some people have a story you can tell they love to talk about, and some people I’ve asked have kind of just

My experience at EGU 2018: chairing a session & presenting a PICO

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) has one of the largest scientific conferences in the world, held every year in Vienna. Last week, 15,075 scientists from 106 different countries made their way to the Austria Center for more than 17,000 talks, posters and PICO presentations over 666 sessions. I’ve previously seen the Austria Centre likened to

Storm Chasing & the Science of Tornadoes

Six years ago, I was studying at Oklahoma University in the USA – for my undergrad year abroad. I’d been excited about living and studying in Oklahoma because classes at the OU School of Meteorology took place in the National Weather Centre in Norman, and also because Oklahoma is in the heart of tornado alley. I’ve always been fascinated by storms (more on that another time), and I was really hoping to have the chance to see some supercells or even tornadoes – and tornado alley did not disappoint!

Wilsons Promontory: Vlog

After a busy week working on my paper, I finally got around to uploading my second vlog from my trip to Australia! We spent a couple of days towards the end of our trip exploring Wilsons Promontory National Park, which is ~3 hours drive southeast from Melbourne. Check out the video and photos below to

Hiking in the Grampians: Vlog

This weekend I’ve gotten around to uploading my first vlog! Before I left for Australia, I was given a fantastic little action camera, which I started using to capture snippets of our travels on video, while hiking in the Grampians National Park in Australia. We hiked the ~9km Wonderland Loop from Halls Gap to the

Driving the Great Ocean Road

Driving the Great Ocean Road was a fantastic adventure, there’s just something about a leisurely drive around winding roads with views over the stunning coastline – I was in love with Australia from Day 1. I think you’ll see why…

Melbourne and “Breaking the Barriers”

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that outside of my research, travel is also a big part of my life, and I jump at the chance to explore a new corner of the world! So I not only flew out to Australia for the conference, but afterwards I hired a car with my partner in crime and we took ourselves on a 2-week road trip around Victoria. So in this post, I’ll talk a bit about the HEPEX conference and the week I spent in Melbourne, and you’ll see a couple of travel posts pop up soon as I write about our time exploring the land down under!

Reflecting on 2017 from Snowy Salzburg

Between Christmas and New Years, I took a short trip to Salburg, Austria, for a wedding and to explore a new city. It was great to spend a couple of days in a new place, off-grid (mostly…), and to reflect on the past year. I didn’t know much about Salzburg before visiting, except that it was where Mozart was born and that the Sound of Music was filmed in and around Salzburg. Over the past couple of years of attending the annual European Geosciences Union conference, I’ve fallen in love with Vienna, and was looking forward to seeing a little more of Austria! 

The Land of Smiles

This time last year… I was in the land of smiles – Thailand! At the start of my placement at ECMWF (which I wrote about in my last blog post), I was asked to head out to Bangkok for a workshop on flood forecasting in transboundary rivers (in this case, those that cross country borders)

Introduction from a Scientist(?)

Writing the first blog post is a little like starting an academic paper from scratch; the blank page is a little daunting – there’s plenty to say, but what’s the best way of saying it?

Let me introduce myself – I’m Rebecca, and I’m a PhD student at the University of Reading doing some research on flood forecasting and predictability around the globe (more on that another time).