Climate and environmental change can often be seen by subsistence farming communities in developing nations as distant problems – they are of little immediate relevance in a society where life or death can be decided by the success of the annual crop cycle.
Within the Walker Institute, we are working to bridge the gap between researchers and communities by turning leading-edge science into practical benefits for real people. For example, for many years we have been working in sub-Saharan Africa to assess the likelihood of dry or wet seasons in areas vulnerable to crop failure, and assisting with practical community-based advice on the selection of suitable crops for the coming season. Affordable and simple index-based weather insurance options, which pay out to farmers if growing conditions turn out to be poor, provide demonstrable buffers against the risks of disastrous and widespread famine resulting from a single poor harvest.
Thursday, September 29, 2016
The Walker Institute is pleased to be working together with Evidence for Development (EfD) and other leading institutes in the UK and Africa on HyCRIS...
Friday, September 16, 2016
When: 22nd - 23rd September 2016 Where: Sorby Room, Wager Building, Whiteknights Campus, University of Reading Register here This interdisciplinary...
Friday, September 16, 2016
Walker Institute has partnered with the Observatoire du Sahara et du Sahel (OSS) to exhibit at the 22nd United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP2...
Monday, November 7, 2016
By Caroline Dunning and Joshua Talib “The Paris Agreement freed Climate Research” Jochem Marotzke, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Whilst our ...
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
By Caroline Dunning and Joshua Talib “Our rainfall is changing, yet we need an encouraging method to show the benefits of new methods including us...
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
By Caroline Dunning and Joshua Talib ‘Only by co-coordinating can we ensure our collective impact is greater than the sum of its parts.’ Representat...
Thursday, November 10, 2016
By Caroline Dunning and Joshua Talib “Two thirds of proven resources in oil, gas and coal need to be left undeveloped for a 2°C pathway.” Michael La...
Friday, November 11, 2016
By Caroline Dunning and Joshua Talib Friday arrived and I think we’re both feeling that it’s been a long week! Dr Alick B. Muvundika came by the Walk...
Saturday, November 12, 2016
More COP adventures took place on Saturday too, although I think we’d both confess that we were quite relieved to find out that the majority of events...
Monday, November 7, 2016
COPbot makes its debut appearance today at the COP 22 climate change conference in Marrakech! COP 22 follows the Paris Agreement which came into forc...
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
The second day of COP22 in Marrakech included the official opening of the Indigenous Peoples’ & Local Communities’ Pavilion, accompanied by speeches, ...
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Farmers Day at COP22. Session: Role of Farmers in the Implementation of the Paris Agreement Run by: World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) and the Inter...
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Fossil fuels supply and climate policy Given that fossil fuels are responsible for approximately 85% of anthropogenic CO2emissions (IPCC), reducing t...
Friday, November 11, 2016
“No jobs on a dead planet” – Just Transition Email: sandra.hansen@pgr.reading.ac.uk Session by: International Trade Union Confederations (ITUC), Ind...
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
The Walker Institute Big Event – Wednesday 14 December On Wednesday 14 December, we will be holding our informal pre-Christmas ‘Big Event’. Guests wi...
Monday, December 5, 2016
The University of Reading’s TAMSAT group helped pioneer the use of satellite imagery in rainfall estimation across Africa.
Friday, January 20, 2017
The Director of Walker Institute, Professor Ros Walker is among the many leading scientists in UK climate research to sign a letter calling on Prime M...
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Climate change is something that affects us all. However, most at risk are low-income earners in the least developed countries and the majority of poo...
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
A comprehensive new handbook about weather forecasting in West Africa could help safeguard lives and resources in the region.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
The Raising Risk Awareness initiative assesses whether climate change has contributed to extreme weather events such as droughts, floods and heatwaves...
Thursday, June 8, 2017
Blog by Sandy Harrison I was delighted to be spearheading a workshop held at University of Reading in July that brought together observationalists an...
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Blog by Cristina Talens, Lorna Young Foundation Smallholders and farming communities in many parts of the world are under huge pressure. Sustained in...
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Professor Ros Cornforth, director of the Walker Institute has been invited to be the keynote speaker at the Oxfam Resilient Solutions symposium held i...
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
The BRAVE project, in collaboration with Lorna Young Foundation (LYF), CARE, Christian Aid Sahel, and Reseau Marp has been holding radio training work...
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Increased hot and cold spells resulting from climate change could affect bread-making quality or seed quality for growing subsequent wheat crops, depe...
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Optimising agriculture for a changing climate: which farming practises confer reliability of food production and farm income? Stable food production ...
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
This week, the Walker Institute is supporting a two-day event on the RAINWATCH initiative in Kampala, Uganda with the aim of providing the space for d...
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Please read below for information about a very interesting upcoming event. The Faculty of Food and Agriculture of The University of the West Indies,...
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Adaptation Futures is a biennial conference of the Global Programme of Research on Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation (PROVIA) in co...
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
The 13th Hugh Bunting Memorial Lecture will be held at 6:30pm on 14th November 2018 in the Madejski Lecture Theatre, at which three industry specialis...
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
The Walker Institute welcomes the announcement by UNFCCC of the adoption of the Katowice Climate Package by COP24 negotiating parties. This robust set...
Monday, December 17, 2018
Check out our activities over COP24, our COP24 dinner with our Walker partners and our COPCAS project!
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
The Presidencies of COP23 & COP24 issued the Talanoa Call for Action calling for the urgent and rapid mobilisation of all actors to step up efforts.
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Join us for our annual post-COP debrief! Grab some food and settle down for an interesting and lively debate about what really happened in Katowice.
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Oceanographer & author John Englander discusses surprising scientific aspects of sea level rise, such as the latest projections for the coming decades...
Monday, January 28, 2019
Check out all the new amazing available PhD projects that SCENARIO NERC DTP are offering in 2019! Deadline for applications 1st February 2019!
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
A recent report published by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), and reported in The Guardian, found that limiting ...
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Together with Scenario, we ran our annual COP Climate Action Studio. In addition to running interviews, our students had the chance to write blogs on ...
Friday, February 8, 2019
The Walker Institute is delighted to welcome Dr Andrew Bennett CMG, BSc, DTA, MSc, DSc, FRSA, President of the Tropical Agricultural Association, on t...
Sunday, February 10, 2019
As part of the HyCRISTAL project, one of our post-doctoral research fellows, Dr Grady Walker, will be travelling to Uganda in March. Working with Futu...
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
As part of the NIMFRU project, members of our team will be travelling to the Katakwi district in Uganda this week to carry out vital fieldwork as part...
Friday, March 29, 2019
IDAPS is facilitating effective livelihood policies in the face of climate change for improved resilience to climate risk
Friday, May 31, 2019
Conference convenors: Alex Arnall, University of Reading, and Uma Kothari, University of Manchester.Although the everyday is commonly regarded as mund...
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
There is a real need for good quality weather and climate information in the Sahel, and a need for this to be made available and integrated into socia...
Thursday, July 4, 2019
Our Interdisciplinary Research Fellow Heather Plumpton told CONNECTED how she learnt to make a difference on climate issues through CSAT project
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Hon James Acidri MP Keynote speech from the HyCRISTAL AGM on 21 May 2019 in Kampala, Uganda
Monday, January 13, 2020
RAINWATCH, is an open-source, web-based GIS platform that provides rainfall data in near-real time from national weather stations and tracks the key s...
Thursday, January 16, 2020
We will be hosting our annual Post-COP event: What really happened at COP25? on Thursday 23 January 13:00-15:00 in Chancellors G05. Come along, grab a...
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Dr Hannah Young, post-doctoral research fellow, went along to the APA Conference last year, check out Hannah's blog below to see what she got up to. ...
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Our Knowledge Innovations & Management Officer, Jacob Myers, recently attended the International Conference on Climate Services (ICCS6), read about hi...
Thursday, March 12, 2020
One of our PhD Students, Faith Mitheu, recently tavelled out to the NIMFRU project communities in Katakwi to observe the final FAMVAC and Listening Gr...
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Members of the BRAVE Project team were recently in Ghana to run three days of training workshops with in-country partners and other key stakeholders i...
Friday, April 3, 2020
In response to the announcement on Wednesday that the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, due to take place this November in Glasgow, has si...
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
On the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, Director of the Walker Institute Prof Ros Cornforth had this to say: “One of the biggest barriers to making t...
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Posted on behalf of Chloe Brimicombe and Nerea Ferrando, PhD students in the School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science. For all of t...
Friday, May 15, 2020
Over the continent of Africa there has been very little research on heatwaves, and the majority of research that does exist focuses on the Western Sah...
Monday, May 18, 2020
On Wednesday 13th May 2020, Dr Grady Walker, a Senior Research Fellow working at the Walker Institute and School of Agriculture Policy and Development...
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
HyCRISTAL implemented projects on urban WASH systems, rural livelihoods, WRM and lake transport infrastructure
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
HyCRISTALs four projects in Kenya focused on urban WASH systems, rural livelihoods, tea production, and lake transport infrastructure
Monday, July 6, 2020
Building on our MoU with the Sygenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA) signed in July 2019, we are thrilled to announce the start of a new...
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
My name is Montserrat Méndez-Buvandel, I am a Mexican master’s degree student who had the fortune to do a short-term stay abroad in the Walker Institu...
Friday, July 17, 2020
Coronavirus WHO COVID -19 Situational Report – 16 July Coronavirus global report: restrictions return around world as cases pass 13 mi...
Monday, July 20, 2020
Stella Akia has been a presenter and news anchor on ETOP FM, the most popular Ateso language radio station in Uganda, for 15 years. Between October 20...
Friday, July 24, 2020
Coronavirus (COVID-19) WHO COVID-19 Situation Report – 23 July Global COVID-19 cases now total over 15 million Coronavirus: WHO reports record si...
Monday, July 27, 2020
We are excited to share the Future Climate for Africa (FCFA) Country and Research Consortium Briefs. A collection of briefs providing a summary of the...
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Today marks the launch of an UPGro short film, highlighting the potential of groundwater for Sub-Saharan Africa, the challenges and opportunities of g...
Sunday, August 2, 2020
On the launch of the UPGro Film, we drill down deeper into the Farmer Voice Radio methodology used in the BRAVE project. For the last 7 years, the ...
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 UNDRR Sendai Hazards Report Launched International Science Council Hazard Definition & C...
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (‘the Sendai Framework’) was one of three landmark agreements adopted by the United Nations...
Friday, August 7, 2020
Coronavirus WHO Coronavirus disease (COVID -19) Situational Report – 6 August Coronavirus: Mexico's death toll becomes world's third highest Aus...
Friday, August 14, 2020
Coronavirus WHO Coronavirus disease (COVID -19) Situational Report – 13 August Coronavirus: Global cases surpass 20 million, but exper...
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
Posted on behalf of Chloe Brimicombe, a PhD Student at the Walker Institute Over 2020, a group of 25 young people, aged 18 to 30 have been learning...
Thursday, August 20, 2020
On August 12th, Dr Grady Walker, a Senior Research Fellow working at the Walker Institute and School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, published...
Friday, August 21, 2020
Coronavirus WHO Coronavirus disease (COVID -19) Situational Report – 21 August Australia Young people want better disaster education after Bla...
Friday, August 28, 2020
Coronavirus WHO Coronavirus disease (COVID -19) Situational Report – 28th August India coronavirus: Covid strikes remote Greater Andamanese tri...
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
A recent article, published by The Guardian, suggests that the August heatwave experienced in the UK may have been overhyped. So is this the case? No...
Monday, September 7, 2020
Coronavirus WHO Coronavirus disease (COVID -19) Situational Report – 4th September Global coronavirus cases exceed 25 million India leads glob...
Friday, September 11, 2020
WHO Guidance on Research Methods for Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management As the world and its population face ever-increasing challeng...
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
We are delighted to announce that data from the newest member of the Rainwatch Alliance – Meteorological Services Department of Zimbabwe – has been in...
Friday, September 18, 2020
Coronavirus WHO Coronavirus disease (COVID -19) Situational Report – 17th September Covid-19: New fear grips Europe as cases top 30m worldwide ...
Friday, September 25, 2020
Coronavirus WHO Coronavirus disease (COVID -19) Situational Report – 25th September Australia At least 25 whales dead and more than 200 str...
Monday, October 5, 2020
Coronavirus WHO Coronavirus disease (COVID -19) Situational Report – 2nd October Coronavirus: Global Covid-19 death toll passes one million ...
Monday, October 12, 2020
Today, the Walker Academy launched its latest online course: Learning to Co-Produce (L2CP). The three-month course, for post-graduate meteorological s...
Friday, October 9, 2020
Coronavirus WHO Coronavirus disease (COVID -19) Situational Report – 9th October Brazil Covid: Brazil's coronavirus cases pass five million...
Friday, October 16, 2020
Coronavirus WHO Coronavirus disease (COVID -19) Situational Report – 16th October Australia Great Barrier Reef has lost half of its corals...
Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Spatial patterns of the changes in maize sowing date between decades: (a) changes from 1984–1993 to 1994–2003, (b) changes from 1994–2003 to 2004–2013...
Monday, December 7, 2020
Alex Kwang is a student at St Paul's School in London who, during lockdown, started a self-led project on predicting extreme rainfall events in Rwanda...
Thursday, December 3, 2020
Adaptive Social Protection (ASP) aims to combine climate adaptation, disaster resilience and social protection measures into one integrated system. Do...
Monday, December 7, 2020
The global food system is facing multiple shocks, from pandemics to the increasing frequency of extreme weather events due to climate change. At the s...
Tuesday, December 8, 2020
We are pleased to announce that a new online programme featuring the Walker Institute's work – Adapting for Tomorrow's Environment – has been launched...
Monday, December 14, 2020
We are pleased to announce that the final stage of data collection for the National-scale Impact-based Forecasting of Flood Risk in Uganda (NIMFRU) pr...
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
In 2020, a huge amount of effort and ingenuity has gone into creating COVID-safe, online versions of previously in-person experiences. At the Walker I...
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
With the COP26 climate summit having been postponed until 2021, young climate activists stepped in to fill the void. Young people from around the worl...
Monday, December 21, 2020
James Fallon, a PhD student at the University of Reading's Department of Meteorology, posted an excellent recap of the recent Mock COP youth climat...
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Dr Grady Walker, Senior Research Officer at the Walker Institute, recently published a paper in the International Journal of Qualitative Methods (IJ...
Monday, March 8, 2021
Walker Institute Researcher and Impact Officer, Luisa Ciampi, recently completed a PhD studying the impact of gender on the effectiveness of agricultu...
Monday, March 8, 2021
Assessing Livelihood Vulnerability to Extreme Shocks (ALiVE) Already-vulnerable communities are facing multiple shocks, from pandemics to extreme wea...
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Welcome to the Walker Update, bringing you up to speed with the latest news and developments from the Walker Institute. We’re trying something new thi...
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Welcome to the Walker Update, bringing you up to speed with the latest news and developments from the Walker Institute and the wider e...
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
This article was originally posted on the Science for Humanitarian Emergencies and Resilience (SHEAR) blog, HERE. What is co-production? Early warni...
Friday, May 14, 2021
Week-long conference brings together leading scientists, government ministers and experts from around the world to set the agenda ahead of the United ...
Monday, June 21, 2021
Welcome to the Walker Update, bringing you up to speed with the latest developments from the Walker Institute and the wider climate resilience field. ...
Tuesday, July 13, 2021
While women are at risk of feeling that they need to stay at home, societal pressures can lead men to take greater risks during a natural disaster A ...
Monday, July 26, 2021
Welcome to the Walker Update, bringing you up to speed with the latest developments from the Walker Institute and the wider climate science field. We’...
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Professor Rosalind Cornforth, Dr Celia Petty and Dr Grady Walker from the University of Reading Walker Institute describe the chapter they contributed...
Wednesday, August 25, 2021
About the course The Walker Institute has partnered with the University's Online Courses team to develop a new FutureLearn course due to launch on 13...
Thursday, August 26, 2021
Dear Colleagues, Welcome to the Walker Update, bringing you up to speed with the latest developments from the Walker Institute and the wider climate s...
Thursday, September 9, 2021
With the clock ticking down to COP26 later this year, the Walker Institute has hosted a video panel discussion on net zero targets and their place in ...
Thursday, September 9, 2021
Dear Colleagues, Welcome to the Walker Update, bringing you up to speed with the latest developments from the Walker Institute and the wider climate s...
Thursday, September 16, 2021
In the run-up to the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow in November 2021, UKRI is holding a series of onl...
Thursday, September 30, 2021
A new collaboration with Microsoft is set to help Walker Institute scientists develop more solutions to climate threats worldwide. Climate variabilit...
Thursday, September 30, 2021
University of Reading PhD student, Elena Saggioro who has recently joined the Walker Institute to work on climate adaptation plans for vulnerable ...
Thursday, October 7, 2021
Dear Colleagues, Welcome to the Walker Update, bringing you up to speed with the latest developments from the Walker Institute and the wider climate...
Thursday, October 7, 2021
A Walker Institute / University of Reading project that used flood impact reports to assess the accuracy of forecasts in Uganda has been selected as t...
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Researchers from the Walker Institute are participating in a number of ways in the 26th annual conference of the parties (COP), which gets underway in...
Thursday, November 4, 2021
An Interview of Professor Michael Sweet from University of Derby, representing the International Coral Reef Society (ICRS) at COP26, by James Fallon, ...
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
With the COP26 climate summit officially kicking off in Glasgow this coming Sunday, we welcome you to this special COP edition of the Walker Update. R...
Friday, November 26, 2021
On screen: Dr Aida Opoku-Mensah, Walker Institute Board member and former Chief of Staff at United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Left to ri...
Thursday, December 2, 2021
COP26: Stantec / Cratus 8 November 2021 Event: What Has the Environment Done For Us? Follow the link here to watch an interview with Professor Ros...
Tuesday, January 4, 2022
OECD Include Walker work in Report on Managing Climate Risks, Facing up to Losses and Damages 2021 The Walker Institute has contributed a case study ...
Thursday, December 23, 2021
Dear Colleagues, Welcome to the final Walker Update of 2021. As the Festive Season begins, the Walker Institute team wanted to bring you a roundup of ...
Thursday, February 24, 2022
We wish Luisa all the best in her new role at the University of Cambridge in the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre in the Facul...
Thursday, March 10, 2022
Paper recently published in Frontiers in Climate, section Predictions and Projections. Why was this research needed? Research data rarely provides...
Thursday, March 17, 2022
Already vulnerable communities are facing multiple shocks, from pandemics to extreme weather events. These shocks are worsening persistent inequalitie...
Thursday, March 17, 2022
Assessing Livelihood Vulnerability to Extreme Shocks (ALiVE) – Foundation Training II Both local and international food systems are facing multiple s...
Thursday, March 17, 2022
For Food Biosystems Doctoral Training Programme Policy makers invoke the term “Food systems” as a way of framing the holistic and complex inter-depen...
Monday, March 21, 2022
Dear Colleagues, Welcome to the first Walker Update of 2022, bringing you up to speed with the latest developments from the Walker Institute and the...
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Climate information and neglected tropical diseases: supporting health systems to adapt to an uncertain climate With the announcement of their new pa...
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
The Walker Institute alongside Department of Meteorology, Department of Computer Science, and the triple-accredited Henley Business School are offerin...
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Dear Colleagues, Welcome to the Walker Update, bringing you up to speed with the latest developments from the Walker Institute and the wider climate s...
Thursday, May 12, 2022
Working as an interdisciplinary research fellow at Walker 2019-2021 was a whirlwind and a joy. I worked on a wide and ever-changing variety of project...
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Walker Researcher Faith Mitheu explains our work on community led approaches to improve early warning systems and anticipatory actions to support vuln...
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
The Climate Resilience Evidence Synthesis Training (CREST) is an initiative providing practical, real-world experience in the synthesis of information...
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
The Walker Academy, the capacity building arm of the Walker Institute, based at the University of Reading, holds a brilliant week-long training course...
Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Dear Colleagues, Welcome to the Walker Update, bringing you up to speed with the latest developments from the Walker Institute and the wider climate s...
Monday, June 20, 2022
Dear Colleagues, Welcome to the Walker Update, bringing you up to speed with the latest developments from the Walker Institute and the w...
Thursday, June 23, 2022
Pen Cabot, Walker Business Development Director, attended UNDRR’s Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR), GP2022 7th Session, Bali, Indon...
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
Heritage is at risk from climate change: a fact well known to those who gathered at the beautiful Henley Business School’s Greenlands campus from 19 t...
Thursday, July 21, 2022
Dr Harley Pope from Walker designed and delivered three workshops for the Summer School at Queen’s University, Belfast, assisted by Konstantina Pratta...
Thursday, July 21, 2022
Dear Colleagues, Welcome to the Walker Update, bringing you up to speed with the latest developments from the Walker Institute and t...