Biography:Jim Hall (civil engineer)

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Short description: Professor of civil engineering (born 1968)
Professor Jim Hall
Professor Jim Hall.jpg
Hall in 2017
Born6 May 1968 (1968-05-06) (age 56)
Sidcup, England
Known forInfrastructure systems, water resource systems, adaptation to climate change, flood and coastal risk analysis
AwardsPrince Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (2018), Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (2010), Institution of Civil Engineers' Robert Alfred Carr Prize (2004), Institution of Civil Engineers' George Stephenson Medal (2001), Institution of Civil Engineers' Frederick Palmer Prize (2001).
Academic background
Alma materBristol University
Academic work
InstitutionsUniversity of Bristol, Newcastle University, University of Oxford

James Hall, FREng (born May 6, 1968) is Professor of Climate and Environmental Risks and former Director of the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford.[1] He is director of research at the School of Geography and the Environment,[2] Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Engineering Science[3] and Fellow of Linacre College.[4] Hall is a member of the UK Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology[5] and is chair of the Science and Advisory Committee of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.[6] He was appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2010.[7] He was a member of the Adaptation Sub-Committee of the UK Independent Committee on Climate Change from 2009-2019. He was appointed as Vice-President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 2021 with a view to becoming President in 2024.[8]

Career

Hall was born in Sidcup, England and studied civil engineering at the University of Bristol, with a stage at the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chausses before graduating in 1990. He was a civil engineer with Taylor Woodrow Construction from 1987 to 1990 and then served with VSO in Guyana from 1991 to 1993 working on flood protection and drainage projects. He worked with water specialist HR Wallingford from 1993 to 1995 before returning to Bristol University to undertake a PhD in engineering systems and uncertainty analysis which he completed in 1999.[9] He was awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Post-doctoral Research Fellowship from 1999 to 2004 and became Reader in Civil Engineering Systems at the University of Bristol. In 2004, he was appointed as the inaugural Professor of Earth Systems Engineering at Newcastle University where he served until 2011.[10] He represented Newcastle University as a member of the Tyndall Centre Consortium, leading the centre's cities research programme and became deputy director of the Tyndall Centre.[3] He was appointed director of the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University[4] and was instrumental in the establishment of the Oxford Networks for the Environment (ONE)[11] which bring together research in the University of Oxford on energy,[12] climate, water,[13] biodiversity and food.[14] In 2018, he stood down as director of the Environmental Change, and in 2020 he became director of research in the School of Geography and the Environment.[15]

Research

He researches risk analysis and decision-making under uncertainty for water resource systems, flood and coastal risk management, infrastructure systems and adaptation to climate change.

Water Resources: Hall developed methods for planning water resources in the context of uncertain future climate changes. In 2018, Hall and his former doctoral student Edoardo Borgomeo were awarded the Prince Sultan Abdulaziz International Prize in the category of Water Management and Protection [16][17] for developing a new risk-based framework to assess water security and plan water supply infrastructure in times of climate change.[18]

His research has focused on the quantification of risks from water resource systems especially the risks of water shortages[19] and harmful water quality[20] for people and the environment. This has contributed to the concept and literature of water security [21] although this approach has been criticised as reductionist.[22] With Claudia Sadoff and David Grey he was co-chair of the Global water partnership/OECD Task Force on the Economics of Water Security and Sustainable Growth.[23][24]

Hall is on the technical panel for the National Infrastructure Commission.[25] His analysis of water risks in Britain provided evidence for the National Infrastructure Commission's 2018 report Preparing for a Drier Future[26] and for the Environment Agency's National framework for Water Resources.[27] He is Editor of the AGU journal Water Resources Research.[28]

Flood risk: Hall developed the flood risk analysis for the first National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA) in England and Wales.[29] The same research now also underpins the Environment Agency's Long Term Investment Strategy.[30] He also developed the framework for uncertainty analysis in appraisal of options for protecting London from flooding over the 21st Century, as part of the Environment Agency's 2012 Thames Estuary 2100 project.[31] He was coordinating lead author in the Government Office of Science and Technology's Foresight Future Flooding project [32] and was a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) for the 2014 floods emergency. He was advisor during the 2016 floods and the subsequent National Flood Resilience Review.[33]

Hall has published two books on flooding: Flood Risk Management in Europe: Innovation in Policy and Practice[34] and Applied Uncertainty in Flood Risk Management. [35]

Coastal Change: With Mike Walkden, Hall developed the SCAPE model which can predict coastal cliff erosion decades into the future. SCAPE has been used to predict the impacts of climate change for coastal towns and nuclear sites.[36] He was part of the team that developed the Tyndall Coastal Simulator which models the response of the East Anglian coast to climate change.[37] Hall conceived the CoastalME modelling environment for simulating decadal to centennial morphological changes.[38] He led the Committee on Climate Change's 2018 report Managing the coast in a changing climate. [39]

Climate Change: Hall's research on adaptation to climate change has focused on climate change risk assessment and decision-making under uncertainty. He was a contributing author to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change[40] which won a Nobel Peace Prize.[41] He was an Advisor to the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change[42] and led the infrastructure background paper [43] for the Global Commission on Adaptation.[44] Between 2009 and 2019, Hall was a member of the UK Adaptation Committee[45] which is part of the Independent Committee on climate change which was established by the 2008 UK Climate Change Risk Assessment evidence report.

He is chair of the Steering Group of the £18.7m UKRI Climate Resilience Programme [46] and served on the Governance Board and the Peer Review Panel for he UK's national climate projections, UKCP 18.[47]

Infrastructure Systems: Jim Hall founded the UK Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium[48] which received two research Programme Grants from the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council.[49][50] Hall led the development of the National Infrastructure Systems Model (NISMOD) which simulates the behaviour and interactions between energy, transport, digital, water and waste systems. NISMOD was used for the National Needs Assessment [51] led by Sir John Armitt and for the UK's first National Infrastructure Assessment.[52]

Hall now chairs the £8 million Data and Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure (DAFNI)[53] at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.[54][55] His book The Future of National Infrastructure [56] sets out the challenges of sustainable infrastructure in the 21st Century and provides a template for assessing long-term policy, planning and investments. NISMOD has been taken up by the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals[57] and has been used to inform infrastructure planning in Curaçao, St Lucia and Ghana. Hall developed several methods for analysing risks to infrastructure networks and prioritising actions to enhance network resilience.[58] The work was used as part of the National Infrastructure Commission's 2020 study of infrastructure resilience.[59] The work has twice been recognised with the award of the Lloyd's Science Prize[60] and it has been applied to the analysis of infrastructure network resilience in Tanzania, Vietnam, Argentina and China and at global scale.

Uncertainty and decision analysis: Hall applied generalised theories of probability to civil engineering and environmental systems, including random set theory,[61] the theory of imprecise probability[62] and info-gap theory.[63] He applied the theory of imprecise probabilities to analyse tipping points in the Earth System.[64]

Alpinism

Jim Hall has climbed new routes in Europe, North America, South America, the Himalayas and the Antarctic. He achieved the first ascent of South Face Thunder Mountain (Alaska) with Paul Ramsden and Nick Lewis,[65] the first winter ascents of Cerro Poincenot and Aig Guillaumet and a winter ascent of Fitzroy Supercouloir (Patagonia) with Paul Ramsden, Nick Lewis and Andy Kirkpatrick,[66] recounted in Kirkpatrick's book Psychovertical. [67]

Honours

  • Prince Sultan Abdul Aziz International Prize for Water (2018).[68]
  • Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (2010).[69]
  • Institution of Civil Engineers' Robert Alfred Carr Prize (2004).[70]
  • Institution of Civil Engineers' George Stephenson Medal (2001).[71]
  • Institution of Civil Engineers' Frederick Palmer Prize (2001).[72]

References

  1. "Professor Jim Hall - Environmental Change Institute - University of Oxford". https://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/people/jhall.html. 
  2. "Staff | School of Geography and the Environment | University of Oxford". https://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/staff/. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Who's Who in Civil Engineering at Oxford — Civil Engineering Research". http://www2.eng.ox.ac.uk/civil/people. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Fellows | Linacre College". https://www.linacre.ox.ac.uk/about-linacre/staff-and-fellows/fellows. 
  5. "Membership" (in en). https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/council-for-science-and-technology/about/membership. 
  6. "Science Advisory Committee - IIASA". https://iiasa.ac.at/web/home/about/leadership/sac/SAC.html. 
  7. "Royal Academy of Engineering, List of Fellows". https://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows?fa=h. 
  8. "New Trustee Board members for 2021-22 elected by Council" (in en). 2021-04-21. https://www.ice.org.uk/news-and-insight/latest-ice-news/new-trustee-board-members-for-2021-22. 
  9. Hall, James William (1999). Uncertainty management for coastal defence systems (Ph.D. thesis). University of Bristol. hdl:1983/9b1c8d07-24f0-48b9-bb7f-73d8d7c40ae6.
  10. "Richard Dawson replaces Jim Hall on the Climate Change Adaptation Committee.". https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/archive/2019/02/richarddawson/. 
  11. "Events | Oxford Networks for the Environment | University of Oxford". http://www.one.ox.ac.uk/events/one-event-181113.html. 
  12. "Oxford Energy | Oxford Energy Network". https://www.energy.ox.ac.uk/wordpress/. 
  13. "People | Water". https://www.water.ox.ac.uk/people/?letter=H&type=&theme=. 
  14. "JIM HALL" (in en). https://www.futureoffood.ox.ac.uk/people/jim-hall. 
  15. Deborah Strickland. "Professor Jim Hall - Environmental Change Institute - University of Oxford" (in en). https://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/people/jhall.html. 
  16. "PSIPW Announces Winners for 8th Award at UNISPACE+50 - PSIPW". https://www.psipw.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=406:psipw-announces-winners-for-8th-award-at-unispace-50&catid=43&Itemid=157&lang=en. 
  17. "ECI scientists awarded the 2018 Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Water Management and Protection Prize". https://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/news/2018/0620.html. 
  18. "Risk Based Principles for defining and managing water security". ResearchGate. 2020-04-09. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257249051. 
  19. Borgomeo, Edoardo; Mortazavi-Naeini, Mohammad; Hall, Jim W.; Guillod, Benoit P. (2018-01-03). "Risk, Robustness and Water Resources Planning Under Uncertainty" (in en). Earth's Future 6 (3): 468–487. doi:10.1002/2017EF000730. Bibcode2018EaFut...6..468B. 
  20. Mortazavi‐Naeini, Mohammad; Bussi, Gianbattista; Elliott, J. Alex; Hall, Jim W.; Whitehead, Paul G. (2019-01-12). "Assessment of Risks to Public Water Supply From Low Flows and Harmful Water Quality in a Changing Climate" (in en). Water Resources Research 55 (12): 10386–10404. doi:10.1029/2018WR022865. ISSN 0043-1397. Bibcode2019WRR....5510386M. 
  21. Hall; Grey; Garrick; Fung; Brown; Dadson; Sadoff (2014). "Coping with the curse of freshwater variability". Science 346 (6208): 429–430. doi:10.1126/science.1257890. PMID 25342791. Bibcode2014Sci...346..429H. 
  22. Zeitoun, Mark; Lankford, Bruce; Krueger, Tobias; Forsyth, Tim; Carter, Richard; Hoekstra, Arjen Y.; Taylor, Richard; Varis, Olli et al. (2016-07-01). "Reductionist and integrative research approaches to complex water security policy challenges" (in en). Global Environmental Change 39: 143–154. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.04.010. ISSN 0959-3780. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378016300541. 
  23. Sadoff; Hall; Grey; Aerts; Ait-Kadi; Brown; Cox; Dadson et al. (2015-01-04). "Securing Water, Sustaining Growth: Report of the GWP/OECD Task Force on Water Security and Sustainable Growth". GWP/OECD Task Force Report. https://www.water.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/SCHOOL-OF-GEOGRAPHY-SECURING-WATER-SUSTAINING-GROWTH-DOWNLOADABLE.pdf. 
  24. "Global Dialogue on Water Security and Sustainable Growth (2013-2015)". https://www.gwp.org/en/we-act/themesprogrammes/SDG-Preparedness-Facility/Global-Dialogue-on-Water-Security-and-Sustainable-Growth/. 
  25. "Governance" (in en-GB). https://www.nic.org.uk/governance/. 
  26. Hall, Jim (2018-04-26). "Preparing for a Drier Future". https://www.nic.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/NIC-Preparing-for-a-Drier-Future-26-April-2018.pdf. 
  27. "Oxford working with the Environment Agency National Framework to help manage England's water resources | Water". https://www.water.ox.ac.uk/ukeamarius/. 
  28. "Water Resources Research" (in en). https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/19447973/editorial-board/editorial-board. 
  29. Hall; Dawson; Sayers; Rosu; Chatterton; Deakin (2003-06-30). "A methodology for national-scale flood risk assessment". Water and Maritime Engineering 156 (3): 235–247. doi:10.1680/wame.2003.156.3.235. 
  30. "Long-term investment scenarios (LTIS) 2019" (in en). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/flood-and-coastal-risk-management-in-england-long-term-investment/long-term-investment-scenarios-ltis-2019. 
  31. "Thames Estuary 2100 (TE2100)" (in en). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/thames-estuary-2100-te2100. 
  32. "The Pitt Review: Learning lessons from the 2007 floods". 2008-06-25. https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100812084907/http:/archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/pittreview/_/media/assets/www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/flooding_review/pitt_review_full%20pdf.pdf. 
  33. "National Flood Resilience Review". 2016-09-30. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/551137/national-flood-resilience-review.pdf. 
  34. Begum; Stive; Hall (2007). Flood Risk Management in Europe: Innovation in Policy and Practice. London: Springer. ISBN 978-1-4020-4199-0. 
  35. Beven; Hall (2014). Applied Uncertainty Analysis in Flood Risk Management. London: Imperial College Press. ISBN 978-1-84816-270-9. 
  36. Dickson; Walkden; Hall (2007-06-30). "Systemic impacts of climatic change on an eroding coast over the 21st Century". Climate Change 81 (2): 141–166. doi:10.1007/s10584-006-9200-9. 
  37. Mokrech; Hanson; Nicholls; Wolf; Walkden; Fontaine; Nicholson-Cole; Jude et al. (2011-06-30). "The Tyndall Coastal Simulator". Journal of Coastal Conservation 15 (3): 325–335. doi:10.1007/s11852-009-0083-6. 
  38. Payo, Andrés; Favis-Mortlock, David; Dickson, Mark; Hall, Jim W.; Hurst, Martin D.; Walkden, Mike J. A.; Townend, Ian; Ives, Matthew C. et al. (2017-07-17). "Coastal Modelling Environment version 1.0: a framework for integrating landform-specific component models in order to simulate decadal to centennial morphological changes on complex coasts" (in en). Geoscientific Model Development 10 (7): 2715–2740. doi:10.5194/gmd-10-2715-2017. ISSN 1991-9603. Bibcode2017GMD....10.2715P. https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/10/2715/2017/. 
  39. "Managing the coast in a changing climate". 2018-10-07. https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Managing-the-coast-in-a-changing-climate-October-2018.pdf. 
  40. "Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change". 2007-12-01. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/03/ar4_wg2_full_report.pdf. 
  41. "The Nobel Peace Prize 2007" (in en-US). https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2007/ipcc/26114-intergovernmental-panel-on-climate-change-nobel-lecture-2007/. 
  42. "Stern Review, The Economics of Climate Change". 2006-10-30. https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Economics/Faculty/Matthew_Turner/ec1340/readings/Sternreview_full.pdf. 
  43. "Adaptation of Infrastructure Systems: Background Paper for the Global Commission on Adaptation". 2019-12-31. https://cdn.gca.org/assets/2019-12/GCA-Infrastructure-background-paperV11-refs_0.pdf. 
  44. "Global Center on Adaptation". https://gca.org/news/webinar-making-climate-resilient-infrastructure-the-norm-july-1-6-7-p-m-central-european-summer-time-cest. 
  45. "Latest appointments to the Adaptation Sub-Committee of the Committee on Climate Change" (in en). https://www.gov.uk/government/news/latest-appointments-to-the-adaptation-sub-committee-of-the-committee-on-climate-change. 
  46. "Steering Committee -" (in en). https://www.ukclimateresilience.org/about/management/steering-committee/. 
  47. "The UKCP18 peer review process". 2018-09-30. https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/content/assets/metofficegovuk/pdf/research/ukcp/ukcp18-peer-review-panel-description.pdf. 
  48. "ITRC – The next generation of national infrastructure planning" (in en-US). https://www.itrc.org.uk/. 
  49. "Programme Grants funded in 2010 - EPSRC website". https://epsrc.ukri.org/funding/applicationprocess/routes/capacity/programme/fundedgrants/fundedin2010/. 
  50. "New modelling tools to help governments and decisions makers minimise the risks from infrastructure failures | University of Oxford". https://www.ox.ac.uk/research/research-impact/new-modelling-tools-help-governments-and-decisions-makers-minimise-risks. 
  51. "UK's first National Infrastructure Assessment is backed by ITRC analysis – ITRC" (in en-US). https://www.itrc.org.uk/uks-first-national-infrastructure-assessment-is-backed-by-itrc-analysis/. 
  52. "Strategic Analysis of the future of national infrastructure". 2017-02-01. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327220063. 
  53. "DAFNI aims high with analytics for infrastructure" (in en). https://www.ukauthority.com/articles/dafni-aims-high-with-analytics-for-infrastructure/. 
  54. "Groundbreaking computer software to improve UK resilience to extreme events - Science and Technology Facilities Council". https://stfc.ukri.org/news/groundbreaking-computer-software/. 
  55. "SCD DAFNI Development Roadmap and Engagement Event". https://www.scd.stfc.ac.uk/Pages/DAFNI-Development-Roadmap-and-Engagement-Event.aspx. 
  56. Hall; Tran; Hickford; Nicholls (2016). The Future of National Infrastructure: A System of Systems Approach. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-10758-874-5. 
  57. "Infrastructure is key to unlocking sustainable development goals" (in en-US). 2018-10-24. https://marketbusinessnews.com/sustainable-development-goals/189238/. 
  58. "Road to somewhere? Resilient infrastructure for sustainable…" (in en). https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/events/road-to-somewhere/. 
  59. "Resilience study research for NIC". 2020-04-01. https://www.nic.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Infrastructure-network-analysis.pdf. 
  60. "ITRC researcher wins Lloyd's Science of Risk Prize 2016 | Water". https://www.water.ox.ac.uk/itrc-researcher-wins-lloyds-science-of-risk-prize-2016/. 
  61. Hall; Lawry (2004-04-01). "Generation, combination and extension of random set approximations to coherent lower and upper probabilities". Reliability Engineering and Systems Safety 85 (1–3): 89–101. doi:10.1016/j.ress.2004.03.005. 
  62. Hall, Jim; Fu, Guangtao; Lawry, Jonathan (2007-04-01). "Imprecise probabilities of climate change: aggregation of fuzzy scenarios and model uncertainties" (in en). Climatic Change 81 (3): 265–281. doi:10.1007/s10584-006-9175-6. ISSN 1573-1480. Bibcode2007ClCh...81..265H. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-006-9175-6. 
  63. "Jim Hall - Robust decisions under uncertainty: examples of info-gap analysis in mitigation policy and flood risk management" (in en-GB). https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/events/climate-change-and-environment-seminar-series-summer-term/. 
  64. Kriegler; Hall; Held; Dawson; Schellnhuber (2009-06-01). "Imprecise probability assessment of tipping points in the climate system". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106 (13): 5041–5046. doi:10.1073/pnas.0809117106. PMID 19289827. Bibcode2009PNAS..106.5041K. 
  65. "AAC Publications - North America, United States, Alaska, Denali National Park, Thunder Mountain (Peak 10,920'), South Face, Peak 11,200', South Face, and The Moose's Tooth, Southwest Face, Attempt". http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199822002/North-America-United-States-Alaska-Denali-National-Park-Thunder-Mountain-Peak-10920-South-Face-Peak-11200-South-Face-and-The-Mooses-Tooth-Southwest-Face-Attempt. 
  66. "VBouldering magazine: Hot Chicks Who Climb" (in en). https://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/publications/other_publications/vbouldering_magazine_hot_chicks_who_climb-27. 
  67. Kirkpatrick, Andy (2008). Psychovertical. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 978-0-09-192096-8. OCLC 230989202. https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/230989202. 
  68. "8th Award Ceremony of the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSIPW)" (in en). http://webtv.un.org/watch/8th-award-ceremony-of-the-prince-sultan-bin-abdulaziz-international-prize-for-water-psipw/5855131257001/?term=&lan=english. 
  69. "List of Fellows, Royal Academy of Engineering". https://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows?fa=h. 
  70. Hall, J. W.; Dawson, R. J.; Sayers, P.; Rosu, C.; Chatterton, J.; Deakin, R. (2003). "A methodology for national-scale flood risk assessment" (in en). Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Water & Maritime Engineering 156 (3): 235–247. doi:10.1680/maen.156.3.235.37976. https://eprint.ncl.ac.uk/pub_details2.aspx?pub_id=22812. 
  71. Hansford, Mark (2001-10-04). "Prop study scoops Telford Medal" (in en). https://www.newcivilengineer.com/archive/prop-study-scoops-telford-medal-04-10-2001/. 
  72. "People – Oxford International Infrastructure Consortium" (in en-US). http://www.oxiic.org/?page_id=40.