The IES is pleased to announce that this year's Burntwood speaker will be Professor Julia Slingo.

Julia Slingo is the Met Office Chief Scientist and has responsibility for their scientific research and development. She also represents the office on science and technology across government.

Julia became Met Office Chief Scientist in February 2009. Before joining the Met Office she was the Director of Climate Research in NERC's National Centre for Atmospheric Science at the University of Reading, where she is still a Professor of Meteorology. In 2006 she founded the Walker Institute for Climate System Research at Reading, aimed at addressing the cross disciplinary challenges of climate change and its impacts.

Julia has had a long-term career in climate modelling and research, working at the Met Office, ECMWF and NCAR in the USA. Her personal research addresses problems in tropical climate variability - its influence on the global climate; its role in seasonal to decadal climate prediction; and its response to climate change.

The Burntwood Lecture, which takes place in November of each year, provides an opportunity for an eminent speaker to talk on a current, critical and often controversial environmental theme. The invited audience, numbering around 150, are persons of true significance in the environmental field from the professions, universities and government.