date: Fri, 22 May 2009 18:01:05 +0100 from: "Stephen Dorling" subject: Re: NERC Knowledge Transfer Partnership: Call for Insurance to: "Phil Jones" Thanks Phil, I'll digest over the weekend. Couple of other things: 1. You mentioned, in the 'climate at uea' meeting with Bob Watson, Trevor et al the other week, the recent finding that humidity was declining in the measurement record. What should I refer to on that topic? Atmospheric chemistry types are talking about increases in absolute humidity (driven by warmer temps and more evap) driving changes in methane in the future - so why the observed declines and are those declines in absolute or relative humidity? 2. Ruth Leavett, current MSc Climate Change student, has volunteered to be weatherquest's experimental "climate correspondent" (don't laugh!) until she finishes her thesis in August. We're sort of mimicing a similar thing the BBC have done. The idea is that Ruth will monitor and keep weatherquest staff up to date (through a web page) with - Latest status of key indices (ENSO/NAO/CET/EWR/Grosswetterlagen) etc - Latest on climate negotiations (only very brief!) - Climate research findings/press releases emanating from CRU/Tyndall/ENV (its surprising how often we're caught out on the radio when we're asked about a UEA study we haven't yet heard about) - a few handpicked rss feeds It sounds a bit pathetic that we can't do this ourselves but I've been surprised how all-consuming an operational roster is. We'll see how it goes but if it is successful then we might like to recruit a replacement for Ruth, again from the MSc CC programme, when the next cohort arrive (perhaps paid this time!) Any comments on this? How's recruitment going? Any sign of additional assistance for the coming year? Still no date for UKCP? S ----- Original Message ----- From: [1]Phil Jones To: [2]s.dorling@uea.ac.uk Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 4:14 PM Subject: Fwd: NERC Knowledge Transfer Partnership: Call for Insurance Intellectual Capital Initiative Steve I thought just what CRU does! Then I read it - seems more what Richard did. It isn't inadequate climate data, it's the claims data! Cheers Phil Inadequate historical data The types of events that generate large losses for the types of facilities in question are few and far between. As such, traditional curve fitting based methodologies fall somewhat short in describing the risk. In addition, following events that cause major losses, engineering and risk management practices are updated to reduce the likelihood of reoccurrence, in theory lending less value to the few existing historic data points. Subject: NERC Knowledge Transfer Partnership: Call for Insurance Intellectual Capital Initiative Date: Fri, 22 May 2009 15:54:13 +0100 X-MS-Has-Attach: yes X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: Thread-Topic: NERC Knowledge Transfer Partnership: Call for Insurance Intellectual Capital Initiative Thread-Index: AcnaHBcFP8wtPjo/QB27+Pre46vzIAAA7SsQACVO6RAAC08KcA== From: "Goodwin Nicholas Dr \(ACAD\)" To: "Burgess Jacquelin Prof \(ENV\)" , "Goodess Clare Dr \(ENV\)" , "Jones Philip Prof \(ENV\)" , "Bateman Ian Prof \(ENV\)" , "Asher Minns" , "Few Roger Dr \(ODG\)" Cc: "Dorling Stephen Dr \(ENV\)" , "Darch Janice Dr \(SCI\)" , "Watkinson Andrew Prof \(ENV\)" <> Dear All, Please forward this to anyone you think might be interested and contact me at the earliest opportunity. Details attached. **Climate Change Risks and the Insurance Industry - Knowledge Transfer Partnerships** Deadline for Outline Proposals is Friday 12th June £450,000 is available for Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) in a new funding call by NERC, the Technology Strategy Board and the Insurance Intellectual Capital Initiative (IICI, a partnership including Lloyds and other main insurers). Normally you would require an industry partner, but this call operates more like a normal research grant with IICI acting as the industry partner. The call has identified four main challenges they wish to address that might align with research in ENV, particularly CRU and Tyndall: (1) Inadequate historical data (2) Complex heterogeneous risks (reference to environment) (3) Complex non-linear hazard/loss relationships (4) Socio-economic trends The School of Computing is keen to do this with help from ENV. CMP works closely with Aviva. Projects would be for 2-3 years and employ an associate at post-doc level. Funding is at the full 100% fEC. Outlines are short (700-800 words) and very targeted. Kind regards, Nick __________________________________________________________________ Dr Nick Goodwin, Business Development Manager (Science) University of East Anglia Tel: 01603 591560 | Mobile: 07826 510640 | Fax: 01603 591550 Email: n.goodwin@uea.ac.uk | Web: [3]www.uea.ac.uk/business Research, Enterprise & Engagement Office, The Registry, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ. __________________________________________________________________ This email may contain privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient please notify the sender and delete all copies. Prof. Phil Jones Climatic Research Unit Telephone +44 (0) 1603 592090 School of Environmental Sciences Fax +44 (0) 1603 507784 University of East Anglia Norwich Email p.jones@uea.ac.uk NR4 7TJ UK ----------------------------------------------------------------------------