Showing articles associated with Neven Fučkar
Dr Neven Fučkar is a climate scientist who focuses on statistics, dynamics, prediction, attribution and impacts of extreme events in a changing climate, and utilises a wide spectrum of observations, reanalysis products, impact models, initialized predictions, and CMIP5/6 and weather/OpenIFS@home simulations. Neven completed his PhD in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at Princeton University, USA, where he investigated large-scale ocean dynamics, hierarchy of models at different levels of complexity and the ocean's role in climate at NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. Furthermore, Neven's research interests encompass hydrological cycle, polar processes, interaction between the climate system and the human system affecting health, food production, water resources and markets, climate-related risk assessment, resilience strengthening and adaptation, and numerical, statistical and machine learning methods.
Why is Oxford a good place to work in research related to environmental challenges?
Oxford University is an exuberant and nurturing academic setting for study and research of environmental challenges to our rapidly expanding society from many different perspectives in multiple disciplines at numerous departments and centres. They excel in their intellectual dimensions as well as in interdisciplinary interactions, and are keen on providing multidisciplinary responses to such existential problems facing our resource-hungry civilisation.
What is the biggest environmental challenge facing the planet right now?
It is essentially impossible to pick the “winner” in this category. For example, the risks from extreme weather and climate events in a changing climate are rapidly multiplying due to increase in frequency and/or magnitude of such events as well as due to population increase, expansion of infrastructure and assets, and their vulnerabilities. Additionally, very heterogenous and growing population of technologically accelerating and resource hungry civilisation generates a plethora of existential treats to many elements of planetary biosphere that supports us (e.g., loss of biodiversity, expanding spectrum of industrial pollution spanning a very wide range of characteristic time scales, etc.).
Despite the challenges, are you optimistic about our future?
Certainly, I could not be possibly more optimistic about our future because we live in extremely interesting times: the world population has rapidly increased from about 1.3 billion in 1850 to presently more than 7.8 billion, as climate changes potentially to a warmer mean state by the end of the 21st century than anytime during the evolution of humans, while at the same time our understanding of the Earth system as well as technological and economic capabilities have never been greater. Furthermore, taking into account psychological and social dimensions of individuals and any imaginable groups, optimism is in essence a prerequisite - irrespective of whether it is momentarily justified or not - for providing any constructive response to such profound challenges to ecologic and socio-economic fabric of our global society.
Find out more about Neven: https://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/people/nfuckar.html
