Meteorology and Climate University of Reading

Overview

Throughout the Meteorology and Climate BSc programme offered by the University of Reading you will benefit from an enviable staff to student ratio. Many of our excellent teaching staff are world leaders in their fields and a number are Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) authors and Fellows of the Royal Society. We also have a Regius Professor of Meteorology and Climate Science, and the University is one of only 19 institutes in the UK to have been awarded one of these prestigious positions by Her Majesty the Queen. The Department of Meteorology has also scored 100% for overall student satisfaction in the National Student Survey 2022. 

Key features

Teaching is divided between lectures and practical work, but the ratio depends on options selected. You will have the opportunity to carry out a range of experiments using our extensive fluid dynamics and instrument labs, and atmospheric observatory. During your final year you will have the option of attending a summer field study trip; in recent years students have gone to the Lake District, but the location of the field class is subject to change. You will also complete an independent research project on a topic of your choice, perhaps focusing on the currents of hurricanes and typhoons or the effect of climate change on crops.

Career opportunities:

This degree will prepare you for work as a forecaster or research scientist at a national organisation, such as the UK Met Office, or a commercial company. Financial businesses are increasingly employing weather forecasters to advise traders of the possible outcomes of the weather on prices of commodities, and a number of our graduates now work in this area. Additionally you can choose to become a broadcast meteorologist, and appear regularly on TV or radio. You may decide to move into a career within environmental and physical sciences or mathematics, such as flood modelling or pollution prediction. You will also be well-placed to pursue further study and develop more specialist skills. In addition to careers related to the weather and climate, your transferable skills will allow you to move into other sectors such as teaching, banking and accountancy.

A degree in Meteorology and Climate will provide you with a range of transferable skills, including teamwork, presenting, computing, data set analysis, numeracy, scientific writing and the ability to work to deadlines.