Shirin Ermis

Atmospheric Physicist

Watching The Day After Tomorrow as a teenager, I was fascinated by the scientist dad giving advice to people in a climate emergency. Learning about climate change and helping people stay safe, that sounded appealing. When I started studying Physics, first in Heidelberg in Germany, then at Imperial College London, severe heatwaves battered Europe and many other parts of the world, and with them, the very real impacts of extreme weather events became clear. That cemented my interest in using the understanding of Physics to predict how extreme events will change with climate change.

I am now a third-year DPhil student in Atmospheric Physics at the University of Oxford. In my research, I focus on extreme storms such as windstorms in the UK or hurricanes to answer the question of how these events change with climate change. For this, my group and I are using weather forecasts. These model simulations are typically used to predict the weather tomorrow or next week but because they are so good at that, they are also an excellent way to study extreme events.

Over the past year, I have also been lucky to be able to work as part of the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme on how the science of event attribution can be used in legal settings. Can we use weather forecasts to determine how much more costly a flood was due to climate change? How do we communicate the findings effectively?

When I am not at my desk in the office, I am probably running laps in University Parks. I am an avid distance runner and have recently finished my first marathon! I love getting outside and away from screens to clear my head.