It is with great sadness that the Asian Network on Climate Science and Technology (ANCST) heard of the passing of its Founder Director, Professor Julian Hunt, Baron Hunt of Chesterton. Professor Hunt was a British meteorologist with a distinguished academic career at Cambridge as professor in fluid dynamics in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, who went on to serve as Director General of the British Meteorological Office from 1992 to 1997. He was a Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge, Honorary Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretic, and Emeritus Professor of Climate Modelling in the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London. Professor Hunt was an advocate for international collaboration. During his tenure as Director General, he was the permanent representative to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) for the United Kingdom. He was also affiliated with numerous institutions in the United States, European Union and Asia, notably Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), City University of Hong Kong and the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
In his global interactions, Prof. Hunt made an astute observation that talented scientists working on climate science in Asia collaborated with their counterparts in the UK, EU and the US but rarely with each other to solve issues unique to the region. In 2012, he shepherded an initiative to mobilize Asian scientists with support from the Cambridge Malaysian Education and Development Trust (CMEDT) and the Malaysian Commonwealth Studies Centre (MCSC). Collaborating closely with Professor Joy Jacqueline Pereira of UKM and Professor Johnny Chan of the City University of Hong Kong, he convened a workshop in Malaysia, which led to the establishment of ANCST. He played an instrumental role in growing ANCST, which has since flourished and brings together the most important centres in Asia and elsewhere working on climate change, including University of Cambridge. His legacy also includes the early career programme, which was conceptualised to link graduate students and young academics to Asian scientists who are renowned in multidisciplinary fields that are unique to the region. ANCST will always be grateful to Professor Julian Hunt for his leadership, wisdom and guidance. Our deepest condolences to his family.
On Professor Julian Hunt’s passing
Johnny Chan
Emeritus Professor
City University of Hong Kong
Professor Hunt was a great scientist and a visionary leader. I first met him at a conference in Beijing in 1992 when I proposed to help the UK Meteorological Office (UKMO) improve their tropical cyclone (TC) track forecast. Indeed, the track forecast error was substantially reduced and he, as the head of UKMO at the time, subsequently went around the world to “preach” this approach and got UKMO to become a leading weather center in TC forecast.
Later on, he was very interested in working with the insurance industry to help them reduce their risk associated with extreme weather events such as TCs. He invited me to many meetings which he helped organise with various stakeholders, discussing how we can better estimate the changes in the frequency and intensity of TCs especially under the influence of global warming. He also set up the Asian Network on Climate Science and Technology in an attempt to raise the awareness of people in Asia in the urgent need to address adaptation of and resilience to the increased frequency of occurrence of extreme weather events under climate change. I personally benefitted from the various discussions with him on these topics.
Professor Hunt’s contributions in these areas will surely be remembered. The world has lost a great leader in the advancement of knowledge in climate science, adaptation and resilience. May he rest in peace!
Professor Julian Hunt – a personal tribute
Joy Jacqueline Pereira
Professor
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
I am so privileged to have collaborated with Professor Lord Julian Hunt and benefitted from his wisdom and guidance for over a decade before his health started to fail him. We worked closely to expand the Asian Network on Climate Science and Technology (ANCST) and co-lead several initiatives. Our most memorable collaboration was developing the Kuala Lumpur Multi-Hazard Platform (KL-MHP) for Disaster Resilient Cities, with support from the Newton-Ungku Omar Fund. The KL-MHP is the culmination of his vision and vast knowledge in atmospheric processes, and my modest experience in geological hazards. I remember vividly how we were both alone in the laboratory of Professor Johnny Chan in the City University of Hong Kong after an ANCST workshop, brainstorming and drawing on the white-board to conceptualise the KL-MHP. We were debating whether his pet topic of atmospheric hazards, or my area of work on geological hazards should be given more prominence. It was a really special moment for me because it was the first time that I actually stood my ground with him. I reasoned that geological hazards should be more prominent than atmospheric hazards on the basis that we had more deaths due to floods and landslides in Malaysia (at that time) relative to air pollution and heatwaves. He graciously conceded my point!
The KL-MHP was brought to reality by experts in both geological and atmospheric domains from Malaysia and the UK, and operationalised by the Department of Meteorology Malaysia (MetMsia). Every time Professor Hunt visits UKM, he would make it a point to also meet with the Director-General and officers from MetMsia. I could tell that these visits were important to him, to inspire officers in MetMsia. Since the start of our collaboration, Professor Hunt and I had at least one joint publication with colleagues every year until 2024. He would also pay me the courtesy of visiting my home. My husband, parents, sisters and I would be in awe of his experiences in pre-independent Malaya. In his final visit to Kuala Lumpur, he was unusually wistful of his past. After our meetings concluded in the week, at his request, I drove him to several places of which he had fond memories. The house that he stayed in when his father worked in the British High Commission in the late 1950s, the church that he attended with his family, the club where they went to after church. My husband also took him to a nearby rainforest where he collected several leaves for his wife. I cherish every moment of his last visit and realise how blessed I am to have had Lord Hunt as a colleague and a friend.
Professor Lord Julian Hunt made a positive impact to climate science in the world, brought climate scientists together in the region, inspired multi-disciplinary research in Malaysia, and more importantly, he was a devoted family man who treasured his family. His is a life well lived. May his soul rest in peace.
