Amélie Kirchgaessner

Amélie Kirchgaessner works as a Climate Scientist at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, UK. She uses observational and modeling data to study how meteorological processes affect, and are affected by large-scale climate change. She is involved in projects that look at microphysical properties of clouds in polar regions and their representation in climate and weather forecasting models. Other projects examine the interaction of airflow with the orography of the Antarctic Peninsula and its effect on the surface energy balance of the Larsen Ice Shelf. She is also interested in interactions and exchange processes between the atmospheric boundary layer, sea ice, and open ocean. She has planned and participated in several field campaigns to the Arctic and the Antarctic, during which she took airborne, ship-based and ground-based measurements.

Amélie Kirchgaessner gained her PhD in Natural Sciences from the Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg, Germany, and her Diplom in Meteorology from the University of Hamburg, Germany. She has been a member of ESWN for over ten years and is particularly interested in strengthening ESWN in Europe. Amélie recently spoke on a panel about networking at ESWN’s 2014 Networking Workshop in Kiel, Germany. The Kiel workshop also provided career-planning advice to the nearly 60 early-career scientists in attendance. Amélie is a great representative for ESWN in Europe.

Keen to share her experiences as a woman scientist and be a role model for young women, Amélie is a STEMNET Ambassador, regularly visiting schools and talking at career fairs and science festivals. She is a member of Cambridge AWiSE, a local network that connects “Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine.” For several years she has held roles in the UK Polar Network, which organizes skill development workshops, networking days, and mentor panels for early career polar research scientists.

In her spare time, Amélie enjoys running, cycling, and going on long hikes. She likes good food – both cooking and eating it – but not the washing up afterwards. She enjoys knitting, and loves pottering about in the garden where she grows flowers, as well as some of her own fruit and vegetables.