Hayley J. Fowler
The 2024 Sergey Soloviev Medal is awarded to Hayley J. Fowler for her remarkable scientific contributions in fundamental research on climate change impacts on rainfall extremes, and applications on flood risks for the improvement of climate resilience.
Haley Fowler is an internationally leading researcher in the field of climate change impacts on extreme weather hazards, precipitation extremes, floods and droughts. Her work is positioned at the interface of meteorology and hydrology, bridging the gap between Global Circulation Models and hydrological applications, and has contributed better to connect both communities. The outcomes of her researches on the processes linked to rainfall extremes have significantly improved our understanding of the anthropogenic intensification of rainstorms.
Her work has permitted the development of innovative climate projections at hydrologically relevant space and time scales, critical for the understanding of fluvial flood risks and for the improvement of climate resilience in increasingly threatened urban systems. Her research strategy has demonstrated the possibility of using stochastic weather generators to project properties of extreme rain fall events under the influence of climate change and thus constrain future extreme hydrological events.
Her comprehensive contributions in analysing and modeling the time series of extreme hydrological events and in targeting the science gaps needed to improve their predictability, together with the development and application of a suite of models to understand the vulnerability and resilience of water resource systems was highly influential in driving the hydrology community efforts to translate the advancements in fundamental research into practice.
Her academic career has developed in parallel with an intense investment in leadership roles, notably as President of the British Hydrological Society (2021-2023), Director of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) One Planet Doctoral Training Programme (2019-), Director of Newcastle University Centre of Research Excellence in Climate and Environmental Resilience (2020-) and Head of the Water Group of the Newcastle University (2022 – ) and with a strong societal implication manifested by public and policy engagements.
Fowler’s innovative approach and her commitment to openness and collaboration in research was recognised as outstanding when she obtained in 2014 a prestigious Consolidator Grant ‘INTENSE: INTElligent use of climate models for adaptation to non- Stationary hydrological Extremes’ and, among others, was awarded in 2014 of the prestigious Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (2014) acknowledging her leading role in studies of the effects of climate change on extreme precipitation and flooding.