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Biography

Dr George Adamson moved to King's in 2013, having studied and worked in the Geography, History and Earth Science departments at the Universities of Manchester, Brighton and Sussex.

He brings this interdisciplinary background to his research, which focuses on the complex relationships between climate and society. Since 2016, he has also convened King's Climate Research Hub, a multidisciplinary research cluster with a particular interest in cultural perspectives on climate and people.

Research

  • Multi-decadal climate variability, particularly in the tropics
  • Long-term determinants of social vulnerability and adaptation to climate change
  • The use and production of climate knowledge

George's research focuses on the complex relationships between climate and society. As a physical scientist, he tries to understand long-term variability in climate over the last few centuries, particularly in the tropics. As a social scientist, he is interested in the way that societies live within climate variability, particularly how institutions create social vulnerability to climate-related hazards.

Lastly, adopting theories from Science and Technology Studies, he researches how societies 'construct' climate, both through the production of scientific knowledge and through cultural practices that create the 'idea' of climate.

Teaching

Undergraduate

  • 5SSG2047 Field Research in Human & Development Geography (field trip to Kerala)
  • 5SSG2051 Climate Variability, Change and Society (Module Coordinator)
  • 6SSG3070 Climate Change: Past, Present and Future
  • 6SSG3073 Histories and Geographies of Climate Change
  • Study Abroad (incoming and outgoing students)

Postgraduate

  • 7SSG5210 Climate: Science and History (Module Coordinator)

PhD supervision

George would be happy to supervise students in any of the following areas:

  • the politics of climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction
  • the history and philosophy of climate science
  • historical climatology
  • public understanding of climate change

Further details

See George's research profile