First student cohort recruited for UNRISK 

We have now completed our recruitment for October 2025. This process involved over 300 applications and more than 50 interviews.

15 outstanding students will be joining UNRISK this year, of which 5 are international.

6 students – Leeds

5 students – UCL

4 students – Exeter

The projects selected are below. View details at https://unrisk-cdt.ac.uk/projects/

Physics-informed Machine Learning for decision making related to future extreme weather events
Novel statistical AI approaches for modelling and evaluating extreme windstorm risk 
Leveraging probabilistic AI for heat-related health risk mitigation and adaptation
Advanced Uncertainty Quantification for decision support: Balancing risks and preferences for policy decisions
Protecting UK infrastructure from landslides triggered by climate extremes
Predicting biodiversity loss in mountain rivers due to glacier retreat
Quantifying the role of land cover in ‘slowing the flow’ for flood risk reduction in a changing climate
The influence of physical process representations on regional and global-scale climate model output
Using new high-resolution ensembles to quantify uncertainty in projections of African climate processes
Reducing uncertainty in the effect of clouds on climate change
End-to-end Machine Learning quantification of hydrological uncertainties: from climate to flood risk management
Leveraging Machine Learning algorithms for improved Arctic sea-ice prediction using the Met Office suite of models
Inclusive storylines for sustainable governance of urban adaptation to uncertainties in future heat extremes
Reducing uncertainty in climate risk perception to enhance resilience: A data science approach using the World Risk Poll
Combining models and uncertainties to support flood risk assessment and mitigation strategies

James Mckay joins UNRISK as Centre Manager

James McKay

James Mckay is the new centre manager for UNRISK, starting March 2025. James has over 15 years of experience managing 3 EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training (Low Carbon Technologies EP/G036608/1, Bioenergy EP/L014912/1 and Water-WISER EP/S022066/1), as well as an EU Marie Curie Training Network.

James is also an artist and science communicator. He has illustrated both scientific papers and popular books about ancient life, including Dinosaurs of the British Isles (with Dean Lomax); Trilobites, Dinosaurs and Mammoths (Palaeontological Association); and most recently Yorkshire’s Amazing Dinosaur Coast, with Roger Osborne. His art depicting a Mesozoic forest from Antarctica featured on the cover of the journal Nature

Described by author Rob Hopkins as ‘the man who draws the future’, James uses art to inspire climate action. His visions of a positive future where people adapt to and mitigate climate change have been informed by research projects within the CDTs. He has led collaborative public engagement projects including Dreams of a Low Carbon Future. His work has been featured on BBC radio, and was shortlisted for both the NCCPE Engage Awards (2014); and the IIASA international prize for visioning positive futures (2022).