Professor Louise Slater
Professor of Hydroclimatology
Group Lead, Hydroclimate Extremes
Fellow and Tutor at Hertford College, Oxford
Future Leaders Fellow (FLF) of UK Research and Innovation
Editor, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS)
Associate Editor, Earth's Future
Editorial Board Member, Advances in Water Resources
Professor of Hydroclimatology
Group Lead, Hydroclimate Extremes
Fellow and Tutor at Hertford College, Oxford
Future Leaders Fellow (FLF) of UK Research and Innovation
Editor, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS)
Associate Editor, Earth's Future
Editorial Board Member, Advances in Water Resources
Academic Profile
Professor Louise Slater is Professor of Hydroclimatology and Tutorial Fellow of Hertford College. She is a Future Leaders Fellow of UK Research and Innovation (2021-2026). Louise was previously Chair of the Oxford Water Network (2019-2021). She is currently Editor for the EGU journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS) and Associate Editor for the AGU journal Earth's Future.
Louise's leads the Hydro-Climate Extremes research group, which develops computational approaches to detect, attribute, and predict how changes in climate and land cover may affect water-related extremes and society. They publish in the fields of hydrology, geomorphology, and climate, in scientific journals such as Nature Communications, Geophysical Research Letters, Environmental Research Letters, Journal of Climate, Climate Dynamics, Geology, Water Resources Research, Science, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, Journal of Hydrology, and International Journal of Climatology.
Before joining the University of Oxford, Louise held Lectureships in Physical Geography at Loughborough University and Queen Mary University of London, and was a Research Scholar at IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering, USA. She is an alumna of the Ecole Normale Supérieure Lyon and of the Classes Préparatoires at the Lycée Henri IV, France. She holds her PhD from the University of St Andrews.
Louise acts as a reviewer for international journals in the fields of flooding, river science and hydroclimatology, and reviews grants for various UK and international bodies. She is a member of several learned societies including the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the European Geosciences Union (EGU), the British Society for Geomorphology (BSG), and the British Hydrological Society (BHS). Louise is also a Visiting Fellow in River Science at Loughborough University.
Awards
- 2023: Gordon Warwick Award for excellence in geomorphological research (mid-career award), British Society for Geomorphology (BSG)
- 2023: Outstanding Editor Award, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS)
- 2022: Hydrologic Sciences Early Career Award, American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- 2021: Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award, European Geosciences Union (EGU)
- 2021: Gill Memorial Award for Outstanding Early Career Research in Physical Geography, Royal Geographical Society (RGS-IBG)
Current Research
Selected Research Projects
- 2021-2028: PI UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (FLF), The Dynamic Drivers of Flood Risk (DRIFT).
- 2021-2026: Co-I NERC Large Grant, The Evolution of Global Flood Hazard and Risk (EvoFlood).
- 2019-2022: PI John Fell Fund, Understanding river behaviour to better predict future flooding.
- 2018-2019: Co-I NERC/ESRC Innovation grant, Financial planning for flood risk.
Postdoctoral Researchers
- Dr Yinxue Liu (2022-2024)
- Dr Simon Moulds (2021-2023)
- Dr Michel Wortmann (2021-2023)
- Dr Shasha Han (2020-2021)
- Dr Laurent Courty (2018-2019)
Visiting Researchers
- Dr Xihui Gu (2021-2023)
- Dr Jiabo Yin (2022-2024)
- Dr Fatih Tosunoglu (2022-2023)
- Ms Xueying Li (2022-2023)
- Mr Keke Fan (2020-2021)
- Mr Wei Sha (2020-2021)
Teaching and Supervision
Undergraduate
Louise contributed to three courses for the Preliminary Examination: Geographical Controversies, Geographical Techniques, and Earth Systems Processes. She also co-developed the Option on Geographic Data Science. At Hertford College, Louise and her colleagues are responsible for teaching students across the entire breadth of geographical topics for the Preliminary Examination and Final Honour School of Geography.
Postgraduate
Louise previously convened the Climate and Catchment Processes module on the MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management (WSPM). Louise welcomes enquiries from individuals wishing to undertake doctoral or post-doctoral research in the following, or related, areas: flood science, streamflow forecasting and prediction, fluvial geomorphology, and computational data science approaches in hydro-climatology.
Current Graduate Research Students
| Bailey Anderson |
The effects of land cover changes on streamflow in the United States; a large sample statistical attribution approach. |
| Marcus Buechel |
Comprehending changing climate and landscape influence on hydrological systems |
| Katie Kowal |
Leveraging Drought Prediction for Enhanced Preparedness in the Central American Dry Corridor |
| Emma Ford | Atmospheric Patterns Triggering Extreme Flood Events Across the UK (Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics ) |
Former Graduate Research Students
| Jiajun Li Completed DPhil in 2022 |
Exploring uncertainty in stage-discharge rating curves. |
| Timo Kelder Completed DPhil in 2022 |
Using large climate model ensembles to quantify and explain climate extremes. |
Selected Publications
Please see ORCiD for a comprehensive up-to-date list. Please contact Louise if you have trouble accessing any of these publications.
