Arundhati shares how the RMetS Legacies fund supported her in-person attendance at the RMetS Early Career and Student Conference and RMetS Annual Weather and Climate Conference in Exeter

I am extremely grateful to have received a generous grant from the RMetS Legacies Fund to support my in-person attendance at the RMetS Early Career and Student Conference and RMetS Annual Weather and Climate Conference in Exeter from July 6–10, 2026. The grant covered registration fees for both conferences, return train travel fares between Leeds and Exeter, and hotel accommodation for the week. As a final-year PhD student who has crossed their standard funded period of study, I would simply not have been able to attend these conferences without the support of the Legacies Fund.

I truly enjoyed the weeklong experience of meeting with other conference delegates and hearing the latest scientific research from different areas of meteorology and climate. In addition to oral presentations and posters, the conference schedule included interactive workshops (on topics ranging from storytelling for research to the use of AI in meteorology) which I found novel and engaging. Getting to attend both conferences this year was a particularly valuable opportunity, as it gave me the chance to network with scientists from diverse backgrounds and career stages.

I gave an oral presentation on my PhD research in each of the conferences. My presentation was based on ongoing work from the second results chapter of my thesis, which examines the decadal modulation of the relationship between the Arctic Oscillation (AO) and El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) using large ensembles of CMIP6 models. I presented in the “Global Circulation” session in the ECS conference and in the “Climate Variability and Teleconnections” session in the Annual conference. Following my talks, I received insightful questions and feedback from the audience. This feedback is timely as I continue to develop this piece of work, and I look forward to incorporating the new ideas and suggestions I received. Beyond the science, I also appreciate having this opportunity to reflect on how to communicate my scientific research clearly and succinctly to a broad audience.

I would like to sincerely thank the Royal Meteorological Society for enabling my participation in Conference Week 2026, which has been an important and fulfilling part of my PhD journey.

Find out more about the RMetS Legacies Fund