Andrew J. Challinor

Andrew Juan Challinor is currently a Theme Leader for ‘Adaptation pathways under progressive climate change’ under the Challenge Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and also a lecturer at the Institute for Climate and Atmosphere Science (ICAS), School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds.

Prior to this, he was a Senior Research Fellow at NCAS-Climate (Oct 2005 – April 2007); and Research Fellow at CGAM, Department of Meteorology and Dept. of Agriculture, University of Reading (Jan 2000 – Sept 2005).

Andrew J. Challinor has over ten years of research experience, and over 35 publications, focusing principally on developing and using climate and crop models to quantify the impacts of climate variability and change on crop yield, including associated uncertainties and adaptation options.

His career goal is to contribute significantly to the knowledge base that strengthens the food security and health of populations vulnerable to climate variability and environmental change. He does this by working increasingly with experts in a range of disciplines, from epidemiologists and ecologists to social scientists.

His professional roles include membership of the expert panel of the Scoping Study on the Analysis, Propagation and Communication of Probability, Uncertainty and Risk (SAPPUR) and of the Editorial Boards of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology and Inside Agriculture. He also leads the University of Leeds response to the Royal Society call for evidence on Biological approaches to enhance food-crop production.

He was one of the scientists chosen to speak at ‘Celebrating British Science’ event at the Royal Society, as part of National Science Week and the only speaker on the agricultural impacts of climate change at the Stabilisation 2005 conference in Exeter (‘Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change’) that was called by the Prime Minister.

Following nomination in December 2009, he now serves on the Open Panel of Experts of the WMO Commission for Climatology (OPACE)

Over thirty-five refereed publications since 2003, over twenty-five of which have been published to date in internationally refereed journals, and three of which have been published as book chapters.

Some recent publications

Challinor, A. J., T. Osborne, A. Morse, L. Shaffrey, T. Wheeler, H. Weller (2009).  Methods and resources for climate impacts research: achieving synergy. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 90 (6), 825–835.

Challinor, A. J. (2009). Developing adaptation options using climate and crop yield forecasting at seasonal to multi-decadal timescales. Environmental Science and Policy 12 (4), 453-465.

Challinor, A. J., F. Ewert, S. Arnold, E. Simelton and E. Fraser (2009). Crops and climate change: progress, trends, and challenges in simulating impacts and informing adaptation. Journal of Experimental Botany  60 (10), 2775–2789. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erp062

Challinor, A. J., T. R. Wheeler, D. Hemming and H. D. Upadhyaya (2009). Crop yield simulations using a perturbed crop and climate parameter ensemble: sensitivity to temperature and potential for genotypic adaptation to climate change. Climate Research, 38 117-127.

Challinor, A. J. and T. R. Wheeler (2008). Use of a crop model ensemble to quantify CO2 stimulation of water-stressed and well-watered crops. Agric. For. Meteorol, 148 1062-1077.

Challinor, A. J. and T. R. Wheeler (2008). Crop yield reduction in the tropics under climate change: processes and uncertainties. Agric. For. Meteorol, 148 343-356.

Challinor, A. J., T. R. Wheeler, C. Garforth, P. Craufurd and A. Kassam (2007). Assessing the vulnerability of food crop systems in Africa to climate change. Climatic Change, 83 381-399.

Challinor, A. J., T. R. Wheeler, P. Q. Craufurd, C. A. T. Ferro and D. B. Stephenson (2007). Adaptation of crops to climate change through genotypic responses to mean and extreme temperatures. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 119 (1-2) 190-204.