Dr James Weber

Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Atmospheric Radiation, Composition and Climate

University of Reading

I am an atmospheric chemist and climate scientist and hold a lectureship in Atmospheric Radiation, Composition and Climate at the University of Reading. My academic background is in modelling the gas phase chemical reactions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) emitted by vegetation and their effect on climate.

I am most interested in how the chemical composition of our atmosphere is changing, how this will affect climate and the influence of various climate change mitigation strategies such as tree planting. My most recent research has focused on the non-CO₂ climate impacts of wide scale tree planting as a climate change mitigation strategy. I use data from the state-of-the-art chemistry-climate models UKESM (United Kingdom Earth System Model) and CESM (Community Earth System Model) to explore how changes to forest cover could affect atmospheric composition and climate. Read more here.

Before my lectureship, I was a post doctoral research aassociate in Dr Maria Val Martin’s group at Sheffield and did my PhD with Professor Alex Archibald at the University of Cambridge.

I attended the Seventeenth Atmospheric Chemistry Colloquium for Emerging Senior Scientists, ACCESS XVII, at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Academic Background

• Lecturer Department of Meteorology, University of Reading (2024 - )
• PDRA School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield (2021 - 2024)
• PhD Improving the understanding of the influence of emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds on climate Yusef Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge (2018-2021)
• MA, MSci Natural Sciences (Chemistry) Pembroke College, University of Cambridge (2012-2016)

External Links

• Reading Profile
• The Conversation - Covid19 and Climate
• Twitter