Rebecca Simpson

I am a DPhil student in the Intelligent Earth CDT at the School of Geography and the Environment, supervised by Dr Neil Hart, Professor Seth Flaxman, and Dr Mark Rodwell (ECMWF).

My research focuses on the representation of large-scale atmospheric dynamics in machine learning weather and climate models. In particular, I investigate whether these models capture the physical behaviour of Rossby Waves, which are large-scale atmospheric waves that control global weather patterns and extremes.

I apply diagnostics to next-generation machine learning and hybrid climate models, comparing their performance with observations and reanalysis datasets. Through this work, I aim to identify where the models successfully reproduce underlying physical processes, where they deviate, and how their physical fidelity might be improved to support subseasonal predictability. I have a particular interest in the Southern Hemisphere, where sparser observations present a challenging but valuable testing ground for model evaluation.

Before joining the Intelligent Earth CDT, I completed a BA in Geography at the University of Oxford followed by three years working as a management and strategy consultant in the Insurance sector.