Dr. Andrew Watkins is passionate about understanding the world around him. His PhD on sea ice and its influence on Antarctic weather and climate meant he not only visited the southern continent twice, but was introduced to the complexities of using, modifying and analysing dynamical climate models. His post-doc at the Co-Operative Research Centre for Southern Hemisphere Meteorology at Monash University involved researching decadal climate cycles and ways to better initialise weather forecast models.
Andrew joined the Bureau of Meteorology in 1999 and became the Head of its Long-range forecast team in 2012, He is passionate about matching the best science with great communication. Andrew has served on several U.N World Meteorological Organization (WMO) expert teams on climate matters, is a key contributor to WMO ENSO Statements, and has been a co-editor of the annual Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society's Status of the Climate reports. He was also editor, then editor-in-chief, of the Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society.
"Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future" Nobel laureate Neils Bohr (1885-1962)