University Of Reading Vice-Chancellor To Lead New Oxfordshire Flooding Group

Study in UK: The Oxfordshire Flooding Group will also have representatives from city and district councils.

Professor Robert Van de Noort, the University of Reading Vice-Chancellor, will now be the Chair of a new Oxfordshire flooding group. This group will help Oxfordshire in improving its readiness and response to flooding.

Professor Van de Noort said, “I look forward to working alongside people representing all parts of the community across Oxfordshire. Flooding is an issue that can affect anyone and requires everyone to play their part to keep people safe from its worst impacts. I am fortunate to work alongside some of the world’s most eminent weather, climate and flood scientists at Reading, who advise world leaders and the UK government on how to manage flood risks. Floods will always occur, but the difference between a flood hazard and a flood disaster is in how we prepare for them and respond to them.”

Councillor Dr Pete Sudbury, Deputy Leader of Oxfordshire County Council with Responsibility for Climate Change, Environment and Future Generations, said, “It is a real privilege and wonderful news for Oxfordshire to have Robert agree to contribute in this way. He is a real heavyweight in the sector, widely acknowledged as having led innovative approaches to flooding as chair of the Thames Valley Flood and Coastal Committee for eight years. The rapid acceleration in extreme rainfall events means the traditional approaches focused around high-risk areas are no longer enough, and we need to shift very rapidly to a whole landscape approach. Having Robert on board really adds impetus to achieving that at the pace and scale necessary.”

University Of Reading Experts Reaction On 2024 Hottest Year On Record

Climate scientists and policy experts from the University of Reading have commented on the 2024 hottest year on record.

Professor Hannah Cloke, Professor of Hydrology at the University of Reading, said, "The natural world is a beautiful and powerful vessel that carries us all. The delicate balance of nature that sustains human life, providing everything we need from our food and water to our homes and jobs, is moving further and further away from what human society is capable of withstanding. Reaching this point, with 1.5 degrees of extra heat across the globe in the atmosphere for a full year, is a troubling milestone in a journey that is taking us away from the safe home in which we can live and thrive. For the sake of my children and their futures, I hope it also marks the point where everyone, every world leader, every government, every business, wakes up to the danger and quickly turns around what they are doing. If we do not, this will not be a milestone but a stepping stone towards our survival."

Professor Chris Merchant, Professor in Ocean and Earth Observation at the University of Reading, said, “The main factors behind the record-breaking global temperatures are global warming combining with the El Nino event that picked up in early 2023 and continued in 2024. These years where characterised by unprecedented wildfires and by a long list of devastating flooding events all around the world – each one a human and economic tragedy. These events are getting worse because of global warming, driven by burning fossil fuels. The fossil fuel industry makes exaggerated profits because it isn’t paying for the climate-related disasters that greenhouse gases cause. Yet we continue to allow them to invest in expanding fossil fuel resources. This needs to change. We need to accelerate the switch away from fossil fuels.”

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