Dr. Chris Funk, Director of the Climate Hazards Center (CHC) at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is the winner of this year’s International Excellence Award of KIT and the Fellowship of SCHROFF Foundation. With these awards, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) honors the prominent scientist and his interdisciplinary work on climate change, extreme weather and food security. The awards include a research stay of up to six months at KIT.
Funk’s research is dedicated to optimizing the remote sensing methods used to monitor droughts, extreme precipitation events and heat waves in tropical regions. Funk played a key role in developing a method for estimating precipitation. Because of its high quality, the method has been used in hundreds of studies on climate change adaptation. He has a special focus on Africa and has developed innovative methods for predicting rainy periods in the Horn of Africa. These methods have significantly improved early warnings in recent years for the people of eastern Africa.
International Climate Research Cooperation
For his work, Funk is receiving the International Excellence Award of KIT and the Fellowship of SCHROFF Foundation, and an invitation for a six-month stay at KIT next year. “KIT can send an important signal with its International Excellence Award. We’re very pleased to award it to Chris Funk, a dedicated climatologist of international repute, and to welcome him here at KIT,” said Professor Jan S. Hesthaven, President of KIT. “In climate research, international cooperation is the key to studying and understanding the complex effects of climate change.”
“With the International Excellence Award, we’re highlighting for the second time the attractive research environment at KIT, which provides outstanding opportunities for cooperation among researchers from all over the world,” said Professor Thomas Hirth, KIT’s Vice President for Transfer and International Affairs. “I’m especially pleased that we can promote scientific dialogue with Africa this time. Not only will this open up new avenues for the transfer of research findings, it will also enable us to work together on solutions for global challenges.”
Research Alliances with Africa
In addition to the research stay, the prize includes several months’ funding for an accompanying junior researcher from Funk’s group and up to EUR 50,000 for equipment for a research project to be conducted at the host institute of KIT. “We aim to blend Chris Funk’s expertise as a global leader in the field of the climate system’s long-range effects on Africa with KIT’s expertise on African weather systems, for example to improve our understanding of the increasing aridity in eastern Africa so that we can provide better precipitation forecasts and early warnings,” said Professor Andreas Fink, who heads the tropical meteorology working group at KIT’s Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research. Awarding the prize to Funk underscores a current strategic initiative at KIT to strengthen and expand research alliances with Africa; this effort will benefit from Funk’s extensive network in Africa.
International Excellence Grants at KIT
The award is part of the International Excellence Grants (IEG) initiative in KIT’s successful University of Excellence concept and is aimed at promoting international collaboration in top-level research and attracting international researchers to KIT.
In close partnership with society, KIT develops solutions for urgent challenges – from climate change, energy transition and sustainable use of natural resources to artificial intelligence, sovereignty and an aging population. As The University in the Helmholtz Association, KIT unites scientific excellence from insight to application-driven research under one roof – and is thus in a unique position to drive this transformation. As a University of Excellence, KIT offers its more than 10,000 employees and 22,800 students outstanding opportunities to shape a sustainable and resilient future. KIT – Science for Impact.