James McKay

Staff User

UNRISK Schools Outreach Activity

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UNRISK student Celine Tchaghlassian at Chapel Allerton Primary School, Leeds

PhD Student at School Outreach event

UNRISK PhD student Celine and James Mckay, UNRISK CDT manager, visited Chapel Allerton Primary School in Leeds for their annual Science Careers Fair, 12 March 2026. The idea is that the children find out about careers in science from various organisations including civil engineers, dentists, pharmaceutical companies, veterinary practices, and University researchers.

James has taken part in this event for several years, liaising with the school to enable CDT students to get a taste of going into schools to do outreach. The school children have also taken part in a Royal Academy of Engineering-funded project led by James educating children about the transition to a zero carbon future.

On the day, each group of 3-4 children spend about five minutes at each stall. On the UNRISK stall the children learned about climate change risks – where are the biggest risks to people? (they had to place a sticker on our inflatable globe). Celine showed them how to do a bit of coding to change map visualisations, and then they played a ‘Jenga’ game, with a group of houses sitting on top, representing a coastal scenario where cliffs are being undermined by sea level rise and more frequent storms. The children had to remove the Jenga blocks and estimate the risks of the houses collapsing – understanding about how climate risks are communicated.

UNRISK 1st workshop – Leeds Week

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The first UNRISK workshop took place from 15th to 19th December 2025.

The UNRISK students undertook tours, field measurements, practical sessions and learned about climate data: how it is gathered and processed, and where the uncertainties lie. They also met Prof Piers Forster over dinner for a conversation about climate science and policymaking.

The students were hosted by the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) at their headquarters at Fairbairn House, Leeds. Next to Fairbairn House is the Atmospheric Measurement and Observation Facility (AMOF) where equipment for climate science field campaigns is stored and prepared for upcoming campaigns.

This workshop was the first of 3 residential workshops designed to give UNRISK students the background context to their PhD projects:

Leeds (December 2025): Climate Data

Exeter (April 2026): Data Science (extracting narratives from data)

UCL (June 2026): Decision science (data, decision-making and communications)

“Having come from a non-atmospheric science background, the training week was an invaluable introduction to the tools, workflows and data essential for my PhD Project. During the workshop week, I felt like I really got to know my fellow UNRISK peers through the sessions and social events we’d arranged in our free time. I feel very fortunate to have a cohort where we can work towards our goals together and support each other.“

Student Fellowship at Royal Meteorological Society

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UNRISK student Conor Lamb has taken up a fellowship with the Royal Meteorological Society, facilitating engagement between the insurance industry and weather and climate professionals.

Conor is the Science Engagement Fellow for Insurance. Within this role he leads the engagement activities of the society within the insurance industry, including running the society’s special interest group. This group directs subsequent activities, such as running webinars, publishing explainers on the use of weather and climate science in the industry and organising in-person events.

Conor’s PhD project is entitled “Combining models and uncertainties to support flood risk assessment and mitigation strategies”, with partner Flood Re.

UNRISK launch event

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The UNRISK launch event took place on 13/14 October 2025 on University of Leeds campus.

We welcomed 14 new PhD students, plus 2 students from associated programmes who will join some UNRISK activities.

The event took place on University of Leeds campus, with presentations from the UNRISK academic team, meetings with current students, industry partners (mainly from our UNRISK Advisory Board) and an art-based icebreaker activity. The new students also presented themselves to the group. It was great for the group to finally spend time together after months of preparation and recruitment – the CDT projects and collaborations can now get underway!