Under the Distinguished Scientists category, Dr Woolway will be funded to travel to China to conduct a lecture tour at CAS sites for two weeks during 2024. The Initiative also provides funding to host a CAS postdoctoral researcher at the School of Ocean Sciences for around three months, in order to strengthen scientific collaboration.
The PIFI Distinguished Scientist package is designed for highly-qualified international scientists. CAS is described as the linchpin of China's drive to explore and harness high technology and the natural sciences for the benefit of China and the world. Comprising a comprehensive research and development network, a merit-based academic society and a system of higher education, CAS brings together scientists and engineers from China and around the world to address both theoretical and applied problems using world-class scientific and management approaches.
Dr Iestyn Woolway’s research focuses on the physical interactions between climate and water, with a particular interest in the physics and hydrology of lakes worldwide. He has been working with Chinese scientists on a number of papers looking at changing surface temperatures of both lakes and glaciers.
Iestyn Woolway graduated from Bangor University in 2011 with a BSc and MSc in Physical Oceanography. In 2018, he was awarded a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, at Dundalk Institute of Technology (Ireland), followed by a European Space Agency Fellowship in 2020 - based at the ESA Climate Office in Oxfordshire. In 2021, Dr Woolway was awarded a UK Natural Environment Research Council Independent Research Fellowship. Last year, he was awarded a Dillwyn Medal for STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) from the Learned Society of Wales in recognition of early career research excellence for his work in the field of global environmental change.