Professor Lee Chapman PhD FRMetS FHEA

Professor Lee Chapman

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Professor of Climate Resilience & Met Office Joint Chair
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

Postgraduate supervision

Professor Chapman has supervised 19 students to completion and currently supervises postgraduate students:

Yongjian Li: Extending the utility of connected vehicles for winter road maintenance (Chinese Scholarship Council / Li Siguang)
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 Bangladesh Fellowship)

Potential students should contact Professor Chapman directly.

Research

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.

Other activities

  • Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute
  • Member of the NERC Advisory Network
  • Member of the EPSRC ICT Strategic Advisory Team
  • Member of the NERC Peer Review College and EPSRC Peer Review College
  • Secretary of the Standing International Road Weather Commission
  • Associate editor of Transport Behaviour and Society

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Lu, Y, Chapman, L, Ferranti, E & Pfrang, C 2025, 'The relationship between street greenery and daytime air temperature: A study based on parameters derived from street view images', Urban Climate, vol. 64, 102623. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102623

Cowell, N, Baldo, C, Chapman, L, Bloss, W & Zhong, J 2024, 'What can we learn from nested IoT low-cost sensor networks for air quality? A case study of PM2.5 in Birmingham, UK', Meteorological Applications, vol. 31, no. 4, e2220. https://doi.org/10.1002/met.2220

Chapman, L, Bell, S & Randall, S 2023, 'Can crowdsourcing increase the durability of an urban meteorological network?', Urban Climate, vol. 49, 101542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2023.101542

Rogers, CDF, Grayson, N, Sadler, JP, Chapman, L, Bouch, CJ, Cavada, M & Leach, JM 2023, 'Delivering sustainable, resilient and liveable cities via transformed governance', Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, vol. 5, 1171996. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2023.1171996

Budnitz, H, Tranos, E & Chapman, L 2023, 'Whether weather causes contention: assessing the ongoing resilience opportunity of telecommuting', GeoJournal, vol. 88, no. 1, pp. 613-638. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-022-10625-4

Hodgson, JR, Chapman, L & Pope, FD 2022, 'Amateur runners more influenced than elite runners by temperature and air pollution during the UK's Great North Run half marathon', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 842, 156825. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156825

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

Cowell, N, Chapman, L, Bloss, W, Srivastava, D, Bartington, S & Singh, A 2022, 'Particulate matter in a lockdown home: evaluation, calibration, results and health risk from an IoT enabled low-cost sensor network for residential air quality monitoring', Environmental Science: Atmospheres. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2ea00124a

Comment/debate

Ukkusari, S, Park, SU, Mittal, S, Chapman, L, Manoli, G, Santos, A, Jones, N, Avnar, P & Romero, N 2024, 'We need to prepare our transport systems for heatwaves – here’s how', Nature, vol. 632, pp. 253-256. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02538-8

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

Conference contribution

Lu, Y, Chapman, L, Ferranti, E & Pfrang, C 2025, The relationship between street greenery and daytime air temperature: a study based on parameters derived from street view images. in T Blanusa & M Gush (eds), III International Symposium on Greener Cities: Improving Ecosystem Services in a Climate-Changing World (GreenCities2024)., 54, Acta Horticulturae, vol. 1429, International Society for Horticultural Science, pp. 449-456, III International Symposium on Greener Cities, Woking, United Kingdom, 25/09/24. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1429.54

Brettle, D, Chapman, L, Clark, T, Ferranti, E, Greenham, S, Griffiths, N, McDermott, I & Needle, S 2025, Urban forestry citizen science and community-based stewardship in Birmingham - the UK's second largest city. in Proceedings of 27th European Forum on Urban Forestry "Urban Forests for Resilient and Healthy Cities" (EFUF 2025). European Forum on Urban Forestry, 27th European Forum on Urban Forestry 2025, Zurich, Switzerland, 3/06/25. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16384791

Other report

Cowell, N, Chapman, L, Bloss, W & Dewar, S 2023, Procuring and deploying low-cost sensor networks: guidance and questions for low-cost and commercial AQ sensing networks. WM-Air, University of Birmingham.

Review article

Cowell, N, Chapman, L, Topping, D, James, P, Bell, D, Bannan, T, Murabito, E, Evans, J & Birkin, M 2025, 'Moving from monitoring to real-time interventions for air quality: are low-cost sensor networks ready to support urban digital twins?', Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, vol. 6, 1500516. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2024.1500516

Lu, Y, Ferranti, E, Chapman, L & Pfrang, C 2023, 'Assessing urban greenery by harvesting street view data: A review', Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, vol. 83, 127917. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2023.127917

View all publications in research portal