Leeds Secures Renewed MOAP Partnership to Advance Weather and Climate Research

The University of Leeds’ membership of the prestigious Met Office Academic Partnership (MOAP) has been renewed, as part of the new Science Delivery Framework. Leeds remains one of eight university partners selected nationally for this new phase, following a highly competitive process. 

Leeds is a founding member of MOAP, established in 2010, and this renewal marks the continuation of more than 16 years of close collaboration with the Met Office. Over that period, the partnership has grown into a central pillar of the University’s research excellence in weather, climate, data science and interdisciplinary environmental research. 

The new framework brings a major increase in the scope for funding, rising from £8 million in the previous phase to £24 million across four years, enabling Leeds and the Met Office to significantly expand joint work on some of the most urgent weather and climate challenges of our time. The Partnership also offers rich opportunities for PhD students and research staff to harness knowledge exchange with the Met Office and develop impact from their research. 

Building on Successes for the Next Phase 

The new framework is designed to be agile to emerging opportunities, coinciding with a uniquely promising moment for innovation in weather and climate science. 

Emerging developments in machine learning are creating possibilities for hybrid modelling approaches, enabling scientists to pair physical models with data‑driven methods. This work will be central to improving our capability to understand, predict, and respond to weather and climate‑related hazards, risks that society is increasingly exposed to. 

MOAP continues to be a cornerstone of the University’s research strategy, bringing together expertise from across the Schools of Earth, Environment and Sustainability (SEES), Geography, Mathematics, Computer Science, and Leeds University Business School, including the recent appointment of five new joint Leeds–Met Office academic staff.  

A Legacy of Impact 

MOAP at Leeds has enabled solutions-led research and accelerated impact, this includes: 

• Generating almost 500 peer‑reviewed papers co‑authored with Met Office scientists, collectively receiving more than 23,000 citations. 

• Contributing to four impact case studies submitted to REF 2021 by the University, evidencing major influence on the delivery of weather alerts in the UK, weather forecasting and climate adaptation in Africa and improved modelling of aerosol processes 

• Playing an instrumental role in the University’s 2021 Queen’s Anniversary Prize, awarded for ground‑breaking weather and climate science for the Global South. 

• Advances in early warning capabilities for extreme weather, such as through the FOREWARNS programme 

• Collaborative radar research between the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, the Environment Agency and Met Office, enhancing flood detection and risk management 

• Making leading contributions to international science partnerships involving the Met Office and researchers in South East Asia, Brazil, India, South Africa and China through the Weather and Climate Science Services Partnership 

Professor Amanda Maycock, Joint Chair of the Met Office Academic Partnership at Leeds and Professor in Climate Dynamics in the Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science (ICAS) at the University of Leeds, said: 

I am delighted Leeds has been selected as one of eight university partners to join the new Met Office Academic Partnership Science Delivery Framework. This was a highly competitive process and our success reflects the strong and successful partnership we maintain with the Met Office.  

 Over the past 16 years, the Met Office Academic Partnership has generated a strong track record of research income, high quality research outputs, joint staff, and many examples of research impact. It is a key partnership for the University and I am delighted this will continue for the next 4 years.

 Professor Paul Field, Met Office Co-Chair, SEES, added:

The Met Office plays an important societal resilience role through weather warnings and future mitigation information. This can only be achieved by partnering with the best academic institutions. The University of Leeds successfully becoming a Met Office Academic Partner is a fantastic and well-deserved achievement that reflects the extraordinary extent of its atmospheric science expertise and how essential the University of Leeds is to the goals of the Met Office. 

Launching for a four‑year term, the renewed MOAP framework positions Leeds to remain at the forefront of national and international efforts to address the challenges of a changing climate.