Dr. Katie Facer-Childs

I joined UKCEH in October 2014, working for the Hydrological Status and Outlooks Group at Wallingford.

I work primarily on hydrological forecasting and am working on the development of several web services to communicate hydrological status and risk, including a pilot global Hydrological Status and Outlook System (HydroSOS) that is being co-developed with with the World Meteorological Organisation and local stakeholders. I lead a team within the operational UK Hydrological Outlooks, and regularly produce the public facing summary of the outlook, synthesising the more technical results. I am contributing to the HydroJULES project, looking at ways of developing seasonal forecasting techniques and applications. I am also leading the development of user guidance for the international C3S funded 'ULYSSES' project that is delivering a multi-model ensemble of global seasonal forecasts. Looking further into the future, I am also working on catchment modelling for the eFLaG project producing projections of streamflow and drought statistics under climate change scenarios.

Another large part of my research in is drought. I am leading the Defra funded RADAR project, reviewing approaches to drought communication. In previous years, I have acted as UKCEH PI for the UK Drought and Water Scarcity ‘IMPETUS’ project (NE/L010267/1). I also led the hydrological reconstructions that were conducted as part of the RCUK Drought and Water Scarcity Programme (DWS) ‘Historic Droughts’ project, developing a modelling framework and generating 125-year streamflow time-series for 303 catchments across the UK.

Alongside my analytical research, I have published on methods of quantifying and communicating uncertainty for decision making.  I also published an interactive web application using the R programming software to allow users to explore the hydrological reconstructions that were produced under the Historic Droughts project. I am also experienced in art and graphic design, so have applicable skills in the production of materials appropriate for non-scientific audiences.

Keywords:  Hydrology, Forecasting, Outlook, Drought, Modelling, Global Hydrology Modelling, Catchment Hydrology, Uncertainty, Parameters, Hydrological Status and Reporting, Reconstruction, airGR, Hydrometeorological Services, Climate Change.

Employment History:

• Oct 2014 - Present: Centre for Ecology & Hydrology - Drought Analyst and Modeller
• Oct 2011-2014: PhD Geography at The University of Nottingham - Global Hydrology Modelling and Uncertainty, Employment: Postgraduate Demonstrator for ArcGIS and Presentation Skill Courses
• Oct 2010-2011: MSc by Research Geography at Durham University - Evaluation of Land Management Impacts on Extreme Low Flows in Northern England, Employment: Postgraduate Demonstrator, Research Assistant
• Oct 2007-2010: BSc Natural Sciences at Durham University
• Dec 2007-2009 (Holidays): The Environment Agency - Technical Assistant, Development Control (Processing and Analysing Flood Risk Assessments)

Development Activities:
Completed training: 

• Visual storytelling (InfoHackit)
• Linux Appeal
• Grant Writing
• Theory of Change and Log Frame Essentials (Bond)
• Hydrological Prediction Short Course (NCAR)
• Safety Management in a Research Environment
• Introduction to Statistics
• Hydrometry (HydroLogic)
• R programming (Mango Solutions)
• Advanced Python
• Python for Data Science (Enthought)
• Meteorology (Met Office)
• High Performance Computing
• How to write a research paper

Conference Attendance and International Meetings:

• European Geosciences Union, ONLINE – May 2020 (Oral Presentation & Session co-convenor)
• HydroSOS Technical Workshop, Nanjing, China - November 2019 (Workshop co-lead)
• International Water Association Young Water Professionals Conference, Edinburgh - June, 2019 (Poster Presentation *AWARD*)
• Ensemble Hydrological Prediction Short Course, Boulder, Colordao, NCAR - May 2019
• European Geosciences Union, Vienna – April 2019 (Keynote Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation)
• About Drought Conference, Oxford - March 2019 (Oral Presentation)
• Hydrological Outlooks Workshop, Bangalore - June 2018 (Oral Presentation)
• Understanding Risk Conference and 24hour Hackathon, Mexico City - May 2018
• Young Water Professionals Resilient Water Futures Conference, Cranfield - April 2018 (Oral Presentation *AWARD*)
• American Geophysical Union, New Orleans - December 2017 (Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation)
• FRIEND Low Flows Network Meeting, Freiburg – October 2017 (Poster Presentation)
• CRUISSE Uncertainty Conference, London – September 2017 (Oral Presentation)
• European Meteorological Society, Dublin – September 2017 (Oral Presentation)
• Drought meeting with IWHR and GIWP, Beijing – August 2017
• European Geosciences Union, Vienna – April 2017 (Poster Presentation, PICO Presentation and Short Course Tutor)
• EDgE Focus Group Meetings, Valencia, Oslo and London – March and October 2017
• British Hydrological Society Peter Wolf Symposium, Wallingford – May 2017 (Poster Presentation)
• Royal Meteorological Society Conference, Manchester – July 2016 (Oral Presentation)
• JASMIN High Performance Computing Conference, Harwell – June 2016 (Oral Presentation)
• European Geosciences Union, Vienna – April 2016 (Poster Presentation)
• Drought and Water Scarcity Hack Week, HackMasters, London - March 2016
• International Workshop on Drought Monitoring, Assessment and Management, Beijing – June 2015
• International Conference on Droughts R&SPI, Valencia - March 2015
• HYPER Droughts, Prague - Nov 2014
• American Geophysical Union, San Francisco - Dec 2013 (Oral Presentation)
• Statistical Methods for Uncertainty meeting, Met Office – Oct 2013
• International Conference for Young Earth Systems Scientists (ICYESS) Hamburg, Germany – Sept 2013 (Oral Presentation)
• Meeting in Bangladesh (BAU Mymensingh) and India (IIT Guwahati) – Jan 2013
• HPC Conference, Nottingham – Jan 2013 (Poster Presentation)
• NCAR TOY Boulder, Colorado – Aug 2012 (2 week Workshop Participation)
• RGS-IBG Conference, Nottingham – April 2012 (Poster Presentation)
• Knowledge Gaps Conference, UEA – April 2012 (Poster Presentation)
• Meeting in Kazakhstan (Oral Presentation) – Jan 2012