Please join us in welcoming Professor Emily Shuckburgh CBE as the new President of the Royal Meteorological Society.  Emily formally takes office on 1 October 2026.

President Emily Shuckburgh CBE was appointed the Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) in November 2025.

She is Professor of Environmental Data Science at the Department of Computer Science and Technology at the University of Cambridge.

Emily, a mathematician and climate scientist and a Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge, is also a Fellow of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, a Fellow of the British Antarctic Survey, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS), and an Honorary Fellow of the Energy Institute (HonFEI).

At the University of Cambridge, she is Academic Director of the Institute of Computing for Climate Science, and co-Director of the Centre for Landscape Regeneration and of the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training on the Application of AI to the study of Environmental Risks (AI4ER).

She worked for more than a decade at the British Antarctic Survey where her work included leading a UK national research programme on the Southern Ocean and its role in climate. Prior to that she undertook research at École Normale Supérieure in Paris and at MIT.

She is co-author, with HM King Charles III and Tony Juniper, of the ‘Ladybird Book on Climate Change’.

Emily was awarded an OBE in 2016 and a CBE in 2025.

Regarding her election, Emily Shuckburgh CBE said:

“It is an honour to take on the role of President of the Royal Meteorological Society at a time when the impacts of extreme weather and climate change are increasingly being felt, and trusted science and expert advice have never been more important.

“The Society helps to ensure world-leading weather and climate knowledge supports people to make informed decisions, strengthening resilience and contributing to a sustainable world where people and nature can flourish.”

Departing President Brian Golding OBE

As we welcome Emily to the Society, we would also like to take the opportunity to thank our departing President, Brian Golding OBE.

Professor Liz Bentley, RMetS Chief Executive, said:

“I would like to express my sincere thanks to our outgoing President, Brian Golding, for his leadership, commitment and contribution to the Society. Brian has been a tremendous advocate for our community and our mission, and we are enormously grateful for everything he has done during his presidency.”

Brian Golding OBE said:

“It has been a great honour to preside over the Royal Meteorological Society during this period in which the independent voice of the Society in weather and climate education, policy and professional standards is of greater importance than ever before. It has been an exciting time to be involved as the scope of the meteorological sector evolves and broadens, with a growing role for interdisciplinary science and rapid progress in the application of AI.”