My work

See my main UEA/ENV profile page.

I am a Professor of Climate Science in the Climatic Research Unit, part of the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, U.K., where I have worked since 1990. Initially I was a Research Associate until I successfully completed my Ph.D. thesis in October 1995 (entitled "Internally-generated variability in some ocean models on decadal to millennial timescales" [abstract] and supervised by Professor Tom Wigley). Then I was a Senior Research Associate for 10 years, undertaking a wide range of climate research, supervision of research students and management of research projects. From 2005-2010 I held an RCUK Academic Fellowship, allowing me to continue carrying out scientific research into various aspects of the global climate system, while also contributing to the teaching of undergraduate and masters students and supervising the research of postgraduate students. From 2010-2014 I was a Reader in climate science.

My research interests cover the fields of natural climate variability (particularly that driven by changes in the thermohaline circulation of the ocean [info], related to the North Atlantic Oscillation [info], or forced by natural external factors [info] [info]), as observed, modelled and recorded in climate proxies (particularly tree-rings [info]); uncertainties in observational records; and the climatology of daily precipitation (including the influence of the spatial scale under consideration and relationships with atmospheric circulation) [info].

My activities and responsibilities

Information about some of the things I do is given below or at the links at the top of the page.

National and international roles

• From 2002-2006, I was joint co-ordinator (with Keith Briffa) of the SO&P project, an EU-funded project spanning 8 institutions and with resources of €1.9 million.
  • The SO&P project (Simulations, Observations & Palaeoclimatic data: climate variability over the last 500 years) used proxy data and model simulations to enhance our understanding and knowledge of climate variations over the past millennium.
  • Executive summary: Osborn and Briffa (2006)
  • Full final report: Osborn and Briffa (2006)

University roles

• From 2002-2004 I led CRU's Strategic Review Team, which undertook an assessment of CRU's current situation and the development of strategy for the next decade.

Publishing, editing and reviewing

• I have been a member of the editorial board of the scientific journal International Journal of Climatology since 2000.
• I have published almost 60 (as of August 2007) articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and many other reports and contributions to books.
• I have reviewed manuscripts for many scientific journals including J. Geophys. Res., Geophys. Res. Lett., J. Climate, J. Phys. Oceanogr., Clim. Dyn., Int. J. Climatol., Clim. Res., Science, Holocene.

I supervise some of the Unit's students.

I teach on a number of the School of Environmental Science's courses. Some of my lecture notes and powerpoint slides are available here.

Some of my students and postdocs use the UK Met Office's Unified Model (a general circulation model of the climate system). Information about using the Unified Model at UEA is available here on the UEA Blackboard site. To access these pages, you need to be registered for Blackboard and you need to be added to the list of "Met Office UM" course participants.

Contact details

Professor Tim Osborn Climatic Research Unit University of East Anglia Norwich NR4 7TJ UK

e-mail: t.osborn@uea.ac.uk twitter: @TimOsbornClim phone: +44 (0)1603 592089