Research Board

The Research Board on Weather, Climate, Water and the Environment (Research Board) translates the strategic aims of WMO and the decisions of the Executive Council and Congress into overarching research priorities and mobilizes research internationally to achieve these priorities.

More about us

A lightning bolt strikes in the distance over fields at sunset, with a single wind turbine standing in the foreground.

Working Structure

See a current list of our experts and our Terms of Reference in the Contacts Directory.

Subsidiary bodies

The Environmental Pollution and Atmospheric Chemistry Scientific Steering Committee (SSC-EPAC)

Working groups

Focal Points

Research Expert Network

Background

The Research Board is an additional non-constituent body established by the WMO Congress in 2019 Resolution 8 (Cg-18)), which recognized that the WMO Strategic Plan will benefit from an effective uptake of research into operational systems, the importance of providing a scientific foundation for decision-making, and the need for a mechanism to coordinate the implementation of the WMO research programmes.

The Research Board consists of subsidiary bodies, which are established by the Research Board, and affiliated bodies, which are bodies established by WMO and co-sponsoring organizations. Affiliated bodies currently include the WMO sponsored and co-sponsored research programmes: Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW), World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) and World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), co-sponsored by WMO, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC/UNESCO) and the International Science Council (ISC).

Subsidiary bodies currently include the Management Group, which is responsible for efficient action to maintain ongoing Research Board responsibilities, including taking any necessary decisions, as well as five task teams, which are established by the Research Board to discharge specific or urgent tasks within a designated time period.

Organizational chart of the World Meteorological Organization showing its governing, constituent, subsidiary, and non-constituent bodies, with connections and descriptions for each group.

The Research Board on Weather, Climate, Water and the Environment (Research Board) translates the strategic aims of WMO and the decisions of the Executive Council and Congress into overarching research priorities and mobilizes research internationally to achieve these priorities. Through its work, the Research Board ensures that:

all elements of the value cycle from discovery science to technological development to policy and decision-making are supported through research;
WMO Member needs in science and technology are advanced;
access of all Members to desired science, technology, software and data is facilitated; and
low- and middle-income countries are supported to increase their research and research translation capacities.