Climate and Atmospheric Science
Introduction to Masters study in Climate and Atmospheric Science
Leeds is a thriving centre of excellence across both the physical science of the climate and the resultant socioeconomic impacts and processes. Within the school itself, there are a number of IPCC contributing authors and world leading experts in atmospheric and climate processes. This has been highlighted recently by the partnership that the Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science (ICAS) has with the UK Met Office which specifically recognises the breadth of research topics within ICAS whilst remaining internationally leading across these areas of interest.
The University also hosts the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), NCAS is one of six research centres funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), providing NERC's core atmospheric research. NCAS is a distributed centre and has scientists based all over the UK including some within the University of Leeds' School of Earth and Environment and the School of Chemistry. Having NCAS staff at different sites around the country allows for, and encourages, inter-University collaboration in research. Previous MRes research projects have included using NCAS facilities such as the 146 research aircraft (www.faam.ac.uk).
The MRes Climate and Atmospheric Science (MRes CAS) has a significant research bias in its structure which is in turn underpinned by a number of taught modules from the Institute of Climate and Atmospheric Science (ICAS). ICAS brings a wealth of specialist knowledge to the MRes CAS in the study of a wide range of disciplines comprising; Chemical Transport Modelling, Dynamic Meteorology, Atmospheric Physics, Earth Observation, Climate Change Impacts, Paleoclimatology and Cloud Microphysics. The School has very strong links to agencies such as the UK Met Office and the British Antarctic Survey. Student research projects often include working with one of these agencies and a number of students have participated in international field campaigns as part of their studies.
The proportion of students who go on to study for a PhD from our programmes is very high, with over 50% of graduates moving on to a research career. In 2011 over 70% of our graduates went on to study for a PhD straight after completion of the MRes. Career opportunities can also be found in research roles in government and the commercial sector.