Principal Investigator: Dr Carol Morris

Co-investigator: Dr Georgina Endfield

Funding body: British Academy

This two-year project (March 08 to February 2010) explores the role of amateurs in the production of contemporary climate knowledge. Enthusiasts and amateur societies played a pivotal role in the production of climate knowledge in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

The professionalisation of meteorological science in the late 19th century did not wholly supersede this amateur tradition, yet there has been a relative neglect of the role of the amateur in contemporary climate change debates. However, recognition of the complexity and uncertainty associated with the physical and social dimensions of climate change has heralded a new period of amateur engagement and calls for a ‘post-normal science’ of climate which involves the participation of diverse groups in the production of climate knowledge. The perspectives of amateur groups have the potential to address some of the gaps in climate change knowledge, could help formulate, frame and inform key debates therein, and represent key steps towards the democratization of climate change policy response.

The key objectives of the research are:
  1. to investigate past and present processes and practices, and their geographies, that comprise amateur approaches to climate knowledge;
  2. to explore whether and how the processes and practices associated with amateur meteorology contribute to distinct ‘communities of practice’
  3. to examine the processes that are reconfiguring these communities of practice; and
  4. to consider how, and with what implications and applications, amateur climate knowledge is circulated within and beyond the immediate community of practice.

These objectives will be investigated through interviews with members of amateur meteorology organisations such as the Climatological Observers Link (COL) and the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO) and representatives of professional climate institutions including the IPCC, the Met Office and the Royal Meteorological Society.