Dr Elizabeth Kent MBE
I went to Shipham primary as it was then, then Fairlands and Kings of Wessex. I did physics at Birmingham Uni, then a masters and PhD at Southampton, the latter in marine meteorology. I started working at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton over 30 years ago and am currently Associate Head of the Marine Physics and Ocean Climate Group.
My research in centered around using observations to understand climate change. Most of the work I do is around using observations of sea and air temperatures made my ships near the sea surface to construct long term records of temperature, stretching back nearly 200 years. When combined with measurements of air temperature made over land, these form the records used to measure temperature used as the measure of how well we are making progress, or not, against the limits set by the Paris Climate Change Agreement. In simple terms I try and understand how the historical measurements were made so we can make adjustments so we can improve our confidence that we are making valid comparisons.
Through out my career I have been lucky enough to undertake several trips to the Antarctic. I’ve also crossed the Atlantic from the Bahamas to the Canaries, and from Canada to Scotland via Greenland. Although these are perhaps, a perk of the job rather than a core part of my research!
More details of Elizabeth's extraordinary career and research can be found here: https://www.marinetechnologynews.com/news/scientist-honored-climate-research-643792