Rachel McCarthy

Rachel Elizabeth McCarthy was born in Preston, Lancashire. She was educated at St Mary's Catholic Primary School in Leyland, St Mary's Catholic High School in Leykand and studied six A-levels at Runshaw College, Leyland. She studied Natural Sciences at Durham University as a member of University College. She graduated in 2006 with triple first class honours in Chemistry, Physics and maths later completing a doctorate in Climatology.

In 2008, she joined the Met Office soon becoming a Senior Climate Scientist, specialising in Climate Impacts and Disaster Risk Reduction. In 2010, she was seconded to London to advise the UK Government Department of Energy and Climate Change on policy matters relating to weather and climate, including renewable energy provision. On her return to the Met Office she worked in the Executive as Private Secretary to the Met Office Chief Scientist Prof. Dame Julia Slingo.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}}. She is the fastest promoted scientist since the organisation's inception in 1854.pers coms:Stephen Becher She was contributor to and editor responsible for the Met office Hadley Centre's contributions to Sir John Houghton's 5th edition of Global Warming:the complete briefing.{{cite book|url=https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/earth-and-environmental-science/climatology-and-climate-change/global-warming-complete-briefing-5th-edition?format=PB&isbn=9781107463790|title= Global Warming:the complete briefing, 5th Edition|date=2015-01-10|language=en-GB|isbn=978-1-107-09167-2|access-date=2020-10-31|last1= Houghton|first1= John|publisher= Cambridge University Press}}{{cite book|url=https://www.book2look.com/vbook.aspx?id=9781107091672|title= Acknowledgements - Global Warming: the complete briefing, 5th Edition, page 17|date=2015-08-30|language=en-GB|isbn=978-1-107-09167-2|access-date=2020-10-31|last1= Houghton|first1= John|publisher= Cambridge University Press}}

Simply put, having calculated the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, there is less warming than expected. where is this extra heat? (a common sceptic question used to deny warming). Working together with Prof. Dame Julia Slingo and using data from scientists in the Met Office Hadley Centre, they proposed that the heat was being stored in the deep Pacific and influenced to some extent by the role of the natural phenomenon called the Interdecal Pacific Oscillation (IPO), in its negative phase. Together they wrote three papers url=https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/content/assets/metofficegovuk/pdf/research/climate-science/climate-observations-projections-and-impacts/paper1_observing_changes_in_the_climate_system.pdf|title = What do observations of the climate system tell us?

url=https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/content/assets/metofficegovuk/pdf/research/climate-science/climate-observations-projections-and-impacts/paper2_recent_pause_in_global_warming.pdf |title = What are the potential causes?

url=https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/content/assets/metofficegovuk/pdf/research/climate-science/climate-observations-projections-and-impacts/paper3_implications_for_projections.pdf| title = What does this mean for projections of future warming?

on the subject explaining the rationale.

Soon, observations taken in the area of the IPO confirmed Slingo and McCarthy correct, and a slew of papers from other scientists followed.

In 2015 she was appointed as an Expert for the European Commission, to advise on the scientific validity of projects submitted under the EU's H2020 Climate Programme; the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020).{{cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/|title= Horizon 2020|access-date=2016-06-16}}

In 2009 she established ExCite Poetry,{{cite web|url=http://www.excitepoetry.org/ExCite_Poetry/Welcome.html|title=Business profile for excitepoetry.org provided by Network Solutions|website=www.excitepoetry.org|access-date=26 December 2018}} the Devon arm of the UK Poetry Society. Within six months of its formation, ExCite Poetry became the largest regional arm of the Poetry Society by a significant margin with well over 200 members and was consequently the focus of the first of a series of poetry workshops with Ruth Padel on BBC Radio 4.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012wcln|title= Poetry Workshop Series One, Episode One|date=2011-07-31|access-date=2020-06-02}} Between 2009 and 2013, she co-hosted a monthly arts-review show on Phonic FM,{{cite web|url=http://www.phonic.fm/|title=Phonic FM: Exeter's community radio station » Blah! Blah! Blah!|first=Phonic|last=FM|website=www.phonic.fm|access-date=26 December 2018}} hailed by The Sunday Times as "providing some of the most inspiring broadcasting in the country".{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/sunday-times-rich-list/profile/article/phonic-and-the-search-for-good-alternative-radio-chf3q5dr8qx|title=Phonic and the search for good alternative radio|last=Christian|first= piece by Brook|date=2009-12-10|newspaper=The Sunday Times|language=en-GB|access-date=2014-06-08}}

In 2013, she became Director of the Exeter Poetry Festival.{{cite web|url=http://www.exeterpoetryfestival.com |title=Promoting Exeter Poetry Festival and poetry in Devon |publisher=Exeter Poetry Festival |access-date=2014-06-08}} McCarthy expanded the existing festival to include school children and international poets. Under her Directorship, for the first time the Festival started to make substantial profits.

In 2015 McCarthy won the first Laureate's Choice Award.{{cite book|url= https://poetrybusiness.co.uk/product/element/|title= Laureate's Choice Award by Carol Ann Duffy - Element|date=2015-06-21|language=en-GB|isbn=978-1-910367-45-2|access-date=2020-06-02|last1= McCarthy|first1= Rachel|publisher= Smith/Doorstop}} In 2016 she converted the research behind the book into a one-woman multimedia experience called 'Alphabet of Our Universe' with numerous shows across the UK and an exclusive interview with McCarthy in The Guardian on Alphabet's Oxford premiere.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/11/rachel-mccarthy-poet-climate-scientist-met-office-poetry-society-exeter |title= Rachel McCarthy: the climate change scientist and poet unlocking elemental forces|last=Fleming|first=Interview by Amy|date=2016-01-11|newspaper=The Guardian|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|access-date=2016-03-16}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/moseley/2016/01/24/moseley-event-alphabet-of-our-universe-by-rachel-mccarthy/|title=Moseley Event: Alphabet of Our Universe by Rachel McCarthy|date=2016-01-12|access-date=2017-05-15}}

In 2015, she was chosen by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy as one of four of the most exciting new voices in British poetry that year. Her first pamphlet "Element" was published in June 2015 by Smith Doorstop under the imprint of Laureate's Choice,{{cite web|url=http://www.poetrybusiness.co.uk/smith-doorstop |title=Smith Doorstop |publisher=Smith Doorstopl |date=2015-02-01 |access-date=2015-02-01}} taking its impetus from the naming and properties of the transition metals of the periodic table. The Laureates Choice scheme continued for a further four years and to celebrate the culmination of Carol Ann Duffy's tenure as Poet Laureate eight of McCarthy's poems and an interview were published in 'The Laureate's Choice Anthology' in 2019, which anthologised the work of all twenty 'exciting and eclectic new voices in contemporary verse'.{{cite book|url= https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-laureates-choice-anthology/carol-ann-duffy/9781912196760https:/|title= The Laureate's Choice Anthology - Twenty poets chosen by Carol Ann Duffy|language=en-GB|isbn=978-1-912196-76-0|date=2019-10-05|publisher= Smith Doorstop|access-date=2020-06-02}}

• Anthologised in The Laureate's Choice Anthology (2019){{cite book|url= https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-laureates-choice-anthology/carol-ann-duffy/9781912196760https:/|title= The Laureate's Choice Anthology - Twenty poets chosen by Carol Ann Duffy|publisher=poetrybusiness.co.uk |language=en-GB|isbn=978-1-912196-76-0|date=2019-10-05|access-date=2019-12-09}}
• On Preservation (commissioned by Blue Door Press and Poetry in Aldeburgh (2017)).{{cite book|url=https://bluedoorpress.co.uk/books/herrings/|title=Herrings, On Preservation|date=2017-03-15|language=en-GB|isbn=978-1-9997264-0-9|access-date=2018-02-16 |last1=Padel |first1=Ruth |publisher=Poetry in Aldeburgh }}
• Element - Laureate's Choice Award (2015){{cite web|url=https://poetrybusiness.co.uk/product/laureates-choice-special-offer/ |title=Element |publisher=poetrybusiness.co.uk |access-date=2020-02-16}}
• Anthologised in the Poetry Business Book of New Contemporary Poets (2014){{cite book|url=http://www.poetrybusiness.co.uk/shop/856/CAST |title=The Poetry Business – CAST: The Poetry Business Book of New Contemporary Poets |publisher=Poetrybusiness.co.uk |access-date=2014-06-08}}
• Survey at 70˚N (2013){{cite journal|url=http://ro.ecu.edu.au/landscapes/vol5/iss2/8http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1189&context=landscapes|title=Survey at 70˚N :McCarthy, R.(2013).Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language, 5(2)".|access-date=15 December 2014}}
• Mendeleev's Horse, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (2011){{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012wcln|title=BBC Radio 4 - Poetry Workshop, Series 1, Episode 1|website=BBC|access-date=26 December 2018}}
• Two Followers of Cadmus Devoured by a Dragon (2010){{cite journal|url=http://www.shearsman.com/pages/magazine/pdfs/83_84online.pdf|title=Two Followers of Cadmus Devoured by a Dragon|publisher=Shearsman Magazine 83/84, April 2010 |date=2010-04-15|access-date=2018-02-19}}
• Murmuration (2009) commissioned by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution for Anthony Gormley's One and Other project{{cite web|url=http://www.antonygormley.com/show/item-view/id/2277|title=Murmuration|publisher=Sky Arts|date=2009-06-06|access-date=2018-02-19}}

• McCarthy, R., 2015: "Climate Communication: Bringing It All Together" - presented at Our Common Future Under Climate Change Conference, Paris, July 2015",{{cite web|url=http://www.commonfuture-paris2015.org/Programme/Detailed-Programme.htm|title=Climate Communication: Bringing It All Together - presented at Our Common Future Under Climate Change Conference, Paris, July 2015|publisher=UNFCCC |access-date=2015-07-30}}
• Met Office., 2014: "Too hot, too dry, too wet, too cold: Drivers and impacts of seasonal weather in the UK"{{cite web|url=http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/news/2014/uk-drivers-and-impacts |title=Drivers and impacts of the seasonal weather in the UK |publisher=Met Office |date=2014-03-25 |access-date=2014-06-08}}
• Met Office., 2013: "The recent pause in global warming(3): What are the implications for projections of future warming?"{{cite web |url=http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/news/recent-pause-in-warming |title=The recent pause in warming |publisher=Met Office |date=2014-04-14 |access-date=2014-06-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140621153706/http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/news/recent-pause-in-warming |archive-date=2014-06-21 }}
• Met Office., 2013: "The recent pause in global warming(2): What are the potential causes?"
• Met Office., 2013: "The recent pause in global warming(1): What do the observations tell us?"
• Palin et al., 2013: "Future projections of temperature-related climate change impacts on the railway network of Great Britain", Climatic Change, 120(1- 2), 71-93{{cite journal|title=Future projections of temperature-related climate change impacts on the railway network of Great Britain |doi=10.1007/s10584-013-0810-8 |volume=120 |journal=Climatic Change |pages=71–93|year = 2013|last1 = Palin|first1 = Erika J.|last2=Thornton |first2=Hazel E. |last3=Mathison |first3=Camilla T. |last4=McCarthy |first4=Rachel E. |last5=Clark |first5=Robin T. |last6=Dora |first6=John |issue=1–2 |bibcode=2013ClCh..120...71P |s2cid=154169860 }}

• Postcard from a Floodplain Near You(Free Word, May 2016).{{cite web|url=https://www.freewordcentre.com/explore/postcard-floodplain/|title=Postcard from a Floodplain Near You|date=2016-05-29|access-date=2018-02-16}}
• A Different Sort of Provocation(The London Magazine, March 2016).{{cite journal|url=https://www.thelondonmagazine.org/article/a-different-sort-of-provocation/|title= A Different Sort of Provocation |publisher=The London Magazine|date=2016-03-01|access-date=2016-06-02}}
• Climate Variability and Change: Migration and the Changing Concepts of Identity and Home in the Poetry of European Women (Cambridge Scholars, March 2014).{{cite book|url=http://www.cambridgescholars.com/displaced-women-6.|title=Displaced Women Multilingual Narratives of Migration in Europe. Chapter = Climate Variability and Change: Migration and the Changing Concepts of Identity and Home in the Poetry of European Women|publisher=Cambridge Scholars|date=2014-04-01|language=en-GB|isbn=978-1-4438-5528-0|access-date=2020-06-23}}
• Weeding Out Success: The Inaugural Ted Hughes Award (The Bookseller, March 2009).{{cite web|url=http://www.thebookseller.com/blogs//115292-weeding-out-success.html|title=Weeding out Success:The Inaugural Ted Hughes Award|publisher=The Bookseller|date=2010-03-01|access-date=2018-12-26}}
• Midas Touch: What Carol Ann Duffy's Appointment Means for the Laureateship (Poetry News', Summer 2009).{{cite journal|url=http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/publications/poetrynews/|title=Midas Touch : What Carol Ann Duffy's Appointment Means for the Laureateship|publisher=Poetry News Summer 2009|access-date=2009-06-01}}
• Great Expectations for Duffy (The Bookseller, May 2009).{{cite web|url=http://www.thebookseller.com/blogs/84288-great-expectations-for-duffy.html|title=Great Expectations for Duffy|publisher=The Bookseller|date=2009-05-07}}
• Andrew Motion: Leaving the Laureateship (Pan Macmillan, April 2009).{{cite web|url=http://www.panmacmillan.com/Picador/ManageBlog.aspx?BlogID=15374021-f93e-478d-ae51-f31d5bde2b13&BlogPage=Permalink|title=Andrew Motion: Leaving the Laureateship|publisher=Pan Macmillan|date=2009-04-20|access-date=2009-06-01}} {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100219090146/http://www.panmacmillan.com/Picador/ManageBlog.aspx?BlogID=15374021-f93e-478d-ae51-f31d5bde2b13&BlogPage=Permalink |date=2010-02-19 }}
• On Gender and Poetry (Pan Macmillan, Feb 2009).{{cite web|url=http://www.panmacmillan.com/Picador/ManageBlog.aspx?BlogID=8c23a003-c819-4b94-be8e-7b3b05c7c3f8&BlogPage=Permalink|title=On Gender and Poetry |publisher=Pan Macmillan|date=2009-02-07|access-date=2009-06-01}} {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100219090153/http://www.panmacmillan.com/Picador/ManageBlog.aspx?BlogID=8c23a003-c819-4b94-be8e-7b3b05c7c3f8&BlogPage=Permalink |date=2010-02-19 }}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://exeterpoetryfestival.wordpress.com/ Exeter Poetry Festival]

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Category:1984 births

Category:Writers from Preston, Lancashire

Category:Alumni of University College, Durham

Category:English women poets

Category:21st-century English poets

Category:21st-century English women writers

Category:Living people

Category:Scientists from Preston, Lancashire

Category:Mass media people from Preston, Lancashire

Category:Women climatologists