The Pros and Cons of writing a thesis by publication (& PhD Update: 1 month to go!)

Yep, it’s 1 month today until I submit my thesis to the University of Reading Graduate School. I’m starting to see the finish line after 4 years working on my PhD! So how’s the thesis going? A couple of months ago, my second “science chapter” had just been published, and I was working on the

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

PhD Update: 3 months to go!

Wait… but it hasn’t been 3 months since your “6-months-to-go” update?! No, it’s only been 2 months (and it feels like it’s only been about 2 weeks!). I promise I can count! It turns out that the “what’s next?” part of my plan has changed a little, and so I need to submit my thesis

How can we forecast river flow around the globe, months in advance?

My PhD research looks into how we can provide earlier indications of flood hazard at the global scale. One way of doing this is through seasonal forecasts of high (or low) river flow. Seasonal forecasts are designed to provide an early indication that a given variable, such as temperature, rainfall or even river flow, will

Natural Hazards: Hurricanes, Typhoons & Cyclones

Ever wondered what the difference is between a hurricane, a typhoon and a cyclone? If so, you’re not the only one! And I can answer this one pretty quickly for you: there’s no difference at all! Hurricane, typhoon and cyclone are all different names for the same natural hazard: tropical cyclones. In the Atlantic, they’re

PhD Update: Less than 6 months to go!

So I’ve now been working on my PhD for ~3.5 years – which means only one thing – I have to submit my thesis within the next 6 months! (Well, 5.5 because I’m a little late writing this…) Time is a funny thing; in some ways the past few years have flown by, but when

What is El Niño? (And can it really impact coffee & chocolate prices?)

You may have seen the infamous El Niño mentioned in the headlines as the cause of floods, droughts, fires, storms, expensive coffee & chocolate etc etc. But if El Niño is the cause of all of these different hazards, what actually is El Niño? Psst! Keep reading to see a fantastic cartoon of El Niño and

10 tips & take-homes from the London SciComm Symposium

On Friday, Louise and I went along to our first London SciComm Symposium, having both been more and more involved in various SciComm events recently. Louise co-organised Reading’s Planet Earth Pint of Science events this year, did a stand-up set at Science Showoff in London and has been doing some fantastic SciArt, while I’ve been

Natural Hazards: Volcanoes

So if you’ve read my blog before, you know that I’m in no way a volcanologist… I’m a hydro-meteorologist. But I do have an interest in (read: obsession with) natural hazards of all different varieties, so over time I’m going to be writing a series of posts on various natural hazards. You can read my

Pint of Science 2018 – Flooding: Is it all water under the bridge?

Pint of Science is all about taking science outside of the “lab” (or field, or office!) and bringing researchers into local pubs to present their science to people who wouldn’t normally get to hear about and discuss it. I first heard about Pint of Science last year through twitter and was keen to get involved