Our speaker at the next meeting on Monday 16th March will be Professor Terry Callaghan giving a talk about his research in the Arctic.
The Arctic is changing very quickly because of climate change and globalisation. Increasingly, the two aspects are linked and changes in the Arctic’s environment are accelerating. Climate warming in the Arctic is twice as fast as the global average rate and its consequences are having profound impacts on the frozen parts of the Arctic, its wildlife and its peoples. As the Arctic has for millennia acted as a negative feedback to global warming, and these feedbacks are becoming positive, changes in the Arctic are affecting planet Earth. This illustrated talk gives examples of changes in the Arctic, their local consequences and the implications for the rest of the world.
Terry Callaghan started as an arctic plant ecologist in 1967. Over 53 years, he has worked in every arctic country and has been in the field during each of 50 years. His research has developed from plant ecology into ecosystem science and environmental change. He has developed several scientific fields and has led many initiatives, contributing to major arctic and global organisations and environmental assessments including IPCC. He participates in high-level arctic initiatives and is an adviser to the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Polar Regions (Arctic and Antarctic). His main current focus is to develop international collaboration to understand environmental change in Siberia.
In 1967, Terry became part of the International Biological Programme Tundra Biome Project and developed networking skills. He was a founder of the UK NERC Arctic Station on Svalbard and coordinated its first 5 year science programme. For 14 years, he led the Abisko Scientific Research Station in Swedish Lapland and in 2001 developed and coordinated a network of 9 research stations in the North Atlantic Region which developed into INTERACT, a network of currently 86 stations (www.eu-interact.org). He now contributes as the Science Coordinator to this and a Siberian Environmental Change Network that he co-founded.
Terry has published over 430 scientific papers and is included as a “Most Cited and Influential Researcher” for the period 2002-2012 on the Web of Science. His contributions have been recognised by awards including Honorary Ph.D.’s from Sweden, Finland and Russia, medals from H.M. the King of Sweden and H.M. Queen Elisabeth of England, and inclusion in the joint award of the Nobel Peace Prize to IPCC in 2007. In 2017, after 50 years of Arctic research, he was awarded the International Arctic Science Committee Medal for “outstanding contributions to international Arctic science collaboration “. At the start of 2018, he was awarded a GCM medal, nominated by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list for his contribution to international cooperation. He currently holds concurrent Professorships in the UK and Russia and is a Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
If you are interested in joining a social club for retired professional or businessmen you are welcome to come along as a guest of one of our members to listen to the talk and learn more about the Club. To do so please contact us via the Contact Page of this website.