We are delighted to announce that the WCRP Joint Scientific Committee (JSC) has elected Professor Detlef Stammer as its Chair and Dr Helen Cleugh as its Vice-chair for two years.
Detlef Stammer is a Professor at the Institute of Oceanography and the Director of the Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), both at the University of Hamburg, Germany. Detlef was appointed to the JSC this year and is also co-chair of the WCRP Grand Challenge on Regional Sea-level Change and Coastal Impacts. Previously, he co-chaired the Scientific Steering Group of WCRP's Climate and Ocean Variability, Predictability and Change (CLIVAR) Core Project.
Detlef Stammer sincerely thanked the entire JSC for the trust and confidence they placed in him. He went on to say, "As a team, we can make significant progress and give WCRP strong support and leadership. I am very much looking forward to working with the international climate community to advance our understanding of the climate system thereby helping society to meet the challenges of climate impacts."
Helen Cleugh is Chief Research Scientist and the Director of the Climate Science Centre in the Ocean and Atmosphere Division of CSIRO (Australia’s national science agency) and former Senior Lecturer at the School of Earth Sciences at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Helen was appointed as a member of the JSC in 2015.
Helen Cleugh congratulated Detlef and said that she "looked forward to supporting the JSC and Chair in successfully implementing the WCRP Strategic Plan — to meet the growing and unprecedented demand for relevant and high-quality climate change knowledge and information and to nurture the global collaboration and science that addresses these most pressing climate science challenges."
WMO Chief Scientist and Research Director, Professor Pavel Kabat, strongly welcomed the appointments: "I congratulate the Joint Scientific Committee of WCRP on electing leaders who have both the experience and commitment to take the Programme to the next level in the coming years. In my role as WMO Chief Scientist and Director Research responsible for WCRP, I look forward to working with Detlef and Helen to ensure that this is achieved."
One of the main goals of the JSC in 2019 will be to implement the WCRP Strategic Plan and transition WCRP into a new phase of operation. This builds on the work of the previous JSC, under the leadership of Professors Guy Brasseur (Chair) and Amanda Lynch (Vice-chair). We thank Guy Brasseur, Amanda Lynch and all the previous members of the WCRP JSC for their dedication and hard work in putting together the Strategic Plan and in successfully leading WCRP in its role as a voice of the international climate science community.