Professor Lee Chapman PhD FRMetS FHEA

Professor Lee Chapman

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Professor of Climate Resilience
Deputy Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer (College of Life and Environmental Sciences)

Contact details

Telephone
0121 414 7435
Fax
+44 (0)121 414 5528
Email
l.chapman@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Professor Lee Chapman’s research interests are at the interface of climatology and engineering investigating the impact of weather and climate on the built environment; an important research area given the ever-increasing concentration (and vulnerability) of the population and critical infrastructure in urban areas. This covers a range of topics and sub-disciplines including infrastructure meteorology, urban climatology and climate change adaptation.  Knowledge transfer, impact and business engagement are at the heart of this research agenda and underpins much of his work.

Qualifications

  • BSc Geography (University of Sheffield, 1998)
  • PhD Geography (University of Birmingham, 2002)
  • PG Cert in Learning & Teaching (University of Birmingham, 2009)

Biography

Professor Lee Chapman completed his PhD entitled "A Blueprint for 21st Century Road Ice Prediction" here in Birmingham. The aim of the project was to assimilate the then emerging GIS and GPS technologies to develop the next generation of road weather prediction models (Route Based Forecasting). The main application was to accurately forecast road surface temperatures enabling optimal salt usage by local councils.  A university spin-out company called Entice Technology Ltd was set up commercialise the work. The business was sold in 2006 to Weather Services International Ltd. 

Professor Chapman is still actively involved in research and business engagement with respect to winter road maintenance. He is past President (now secretary) of the Standing International Road Weather Commission (SIRWEC) and CEO of Altasense, a University Operating Division selling Internet of Things weather monitoring solutions to highway and railway engineers.  The flagship product 'wintersense' was licensed to Campbell Scientific Ltd in 2019 and is now marketed across the world. 

He was awarded the 2013 RGS Cuthbert Peek award for advancing knowledge of urban climatology through GIS and remote sensing, the 2014 RMetS Innovation Award for ‘making meteorological measurements that matter’ and the 2017 Harry Otten Prize for Innovation in Meteorology.   He became Professor of Climate Resilience in 2016 and has co-authored all three of the UK Climate Change Risk Assessments.

Teaching

Professor Lee Chapman is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has a significant teaching profile which spans several programmes of study.

His teaching methods and assessment strategies were informed by studying for a PGCert in Learning and Teaching which Professor Chapman completed in 2009. He was nominated for a prize in Level 1 of the course and won a prize for Level 2 where he had his teaching project published:

Chapman, L. (2010) Dealing with maths anxiety: How do you teach mathematics in a geography department? Journal of Geography in Higher Education 34:205-213.

Postgraduate supervision

Professor Chapman has supervised 18 students to completion and currently supervises seven postgraduate students:

  • Chenguang Xiao: Federated learning for internet of things networks (School Studentship)
  • Yanzhi Lu: The role of trees in reducing the impact of environmental stressors (Self-Funded)
  • Nicole Cowell: Distributed measurements of particulate matter (Self-Funded)
  • Nigar Parvin: Using green infrastructure to improve human health (Funded by Prime Minister Bangledesh Fellowship)
  • Richard Bufton: Impact of the urban heat island on parakeets (NERC CENTA DTP)
  • Nigel Hopper: Impact of a changing UK climate on Corvids (NERC CENTA DTP)

Potential students should contact Professor Chapman directly.

Research

Professor Lee Chapman has contributed to a large portfolio of research funded by a wide range of funding bodies including EU, EPSRC, NERC, Innovate UK and Industry.  The two main grants he is currently working on are:

Birmingham Urban Observatory (EPSRC)

As part of the UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC), this project has deployed a 'living lab' of hundreds of sensors across the city.  With a focus on monitoring environmental stressors on infrastructure, the foundations of the observatory are built on a dense network of weather and air quality monitoring equipment.  This project builds on Professor Chapman's Internet of Things expertise and consists of nested arrays of both 'off-the-shelf' and UoB developed sensors which together provide the data which can help underpin an urban component of the national digital twin.

West Midlands Air Quality Improvement Programme (NERC)

WM-air is an initiative to support the improvement of air quality, and associated health, environmental and economic benefits in the West Midlands.   The project dovetails into the Birmingham Urban Observatory which provides additional observational capacity, along with the air quality supersite triplet located within the city.

Other activities

  • Secretary of the Standing International Road Weather Commission
  • Associate editor of Transport Behaviour and Society
  • Member of the NERC Peer Review College and EPSRC Peer Review College
  • Member of the NERC Advisory Network

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Cowell, N, Chapman, L, Bloss, W & Pope, F 2022, 'Field Calibration and Evaluation of an Internet-of-Things-Based Particulate Matter Sensor', Frontiers in Environmental Science, vol. 9, 798485. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2021.798485

Hodgson, JR, Chapman, L & Pope, FD 2021, 'The Diamond League athletic series: does the air quality sparkle?', International Journal of Biometeorology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-021-02114-z

Feng, JL, Cai, XM & Chapman, L 2020, 'A tale of two cities: The influence of urban meteorological network design on the nocturnal surface versus canopy heat island relationship in Oklahoma City, OK, and Birmingham, UK', International Journal of Climatology. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.6697

Feng, J, Cai, X & Chapman, L 2020, 'A tale of two cities: The influence of urban meteorological network design on the nocturnal surface versus canopy heat island relationship in Oklahoma City, US and Birmingham, UK', International Journal of Climatology. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.6697

Abdulrasheed, M, MacKenzie, AR, Whyatt, D & Chapman, L 2020, 'Allometric scaling of thermal infrared emitted from UK cities and its relation to urban form City and Environment Interactions', City and Environment Interactions, vol. 5, 100037. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cacint.2020.100037

Budnitz, H, Tranos, E & Chapman, L 2020, 'Responding to stormy weather: choosing which journeys to make', Travel Behaviour and Society, vol. 18, pp. 94-105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tbs.2019.10.008

Budnitz, H, Tranos, E & Chapman, L 2020, 'Telecommuting and other trips', Journal of Transport Geography, vol. 85, 102713. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2020.102713

Feng, J, Cai, X & Chapman, L 2019, 'Impact of atmospheric conditions and levels of urbanisation on the relationship between nocturnal surface and urban canopy heat islands', Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3619

Duy, P, Chapman, L & Tight, M 2019, 'Resilient transport systems to reduce urban vulnerability to floods in emerging-coastal cities: A case study of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam', Travel Behaviour and Society, vol. 15, pp. 28-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tbs.2018.11.001

Dawson, R, Thompson, D, Johns, D, Wood, R, Darch, G, Chapman, L, Hughes, P, Watson, G, Paulson, K, Bell, S, Gosling, S, Powrie, W & Hall, J 2018, 'A systems framework for national assessment of climate risks to infrastructure', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0298

Kirby, J, Chapman, L & Chapman, V 2018, 'Assessing the Raspberry Pi as a low-cost alternative for acquisition of near infrared hemispherical digital imagery', Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, vol. 259, pp. 232-239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2018.05.004

Thomas, R, Mackenzie, A, Reynolds, S, Sadler, J, Cropley, F, Bell, S, Dugdale, S, Chapman, L, Quinn, A & Cai, X 2018, 'Avian Sensor Packages for Meteorological Measurements', Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, vol. 99, no. 3, pp. 499-511. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0181.1

Commissioned report

Acton, J, Anderson, P, Andres, L, Angus, M, Amor, P, Arrowsmith, J (ed.), Asmelash, H, Bartington, S (ed.), Bengtsson, F, Bhullar, L, Bloss, W, Bonet, B, Börner, S, O Bonsu, N, Bryson, JR, Burns, V, Burrows, A, Calvert, C, Cassidy, N, Cavoski, A, Chadyiwa, M, Chapman, H, Chapman, L, Cockram, M, Degendardt, L, Dickinson, D, Ding, Y, Dobrzynski, D, Dolo, M, Dora, J, Ercolani, M, Ersoy, A, Farag, H, Ferranti, E, Fisher, R, Freer, M, Goldmann, N, Goode, CE, Greenham, S, Gulati, S, Hadfield-Hill, S, Harper, G, Hegerl, G, Hillmansen, S, Holmes, J, Huang, JJ, Huser, C, Jackson, R, Jaroszweski, D, Jefferson, I, Johnson, J, Kaewunruen, S, Kelly-Akinnuoye, F, Kettles, G, Kraftl, P, Krause, S, Leckebusch, GC, Lee, R, Lockwood, B (ed.), Lohse, J, Luna Diez, E, Lynch, I (ed.), MacKenzie, R, Maddison, D, Makepeace, J, Mann, V, Marino, R, Mavronicola, N, McDonald, M, McGowan, K (ed.), Metje, N, Ng, K, Nicol, J, O'Sullivan, C, Phalkey, N, Prestwood, E, Pyatt, N, Quinn, A, Radcliffe, J (ed.), Ravi, M, Reardon, L, Reeder, T, O’Regan, P, Remedios, L, Roberts, J, Rogers, C, Rungskunroch, P, van Schaik, W, Swan, J (ed.), Thomson, I, Toft, H (ed.), Tong, J, Botello Villagrana, F, Walton, A, Wason, C (ed.), Weir, C, Wood, R & Zhong, J 2021, Addressing the climate challenge. University of Birmingham. https://doi.org/10.25500/epapers.bham.00003451

Letter

Bassett, R, Young, P, Blair, G, Cai, X & Chapman, L 2020, 'Urbanisation’s contribution to climate warming in Great Britain', Environmental Research Letters, vol. 15, no. 11, 114014. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abbb51

Other report

Ferranti, E, Futcher, J, Salter, K, Hodgkinson, S & Chapman, L 2021, First Steps in Urban Heat for Built Environment Practitioners. Trees and Design Action Group Trust. https://doi.org/10.25500/epapers.bham.00003452

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