Sarah Raper MCH (Making Climate History) Oral History Interview

Abstract

Oral history interview with Sarah Raper conducted by Alexis Rider on 10th April 2025 as part of the Making Climate History project. Time-Stamped Summary Track One Early life, memories of parents [I: 01:04] Early schooling [I: 04:16] Post school gap year, working at Rothamsted Research Station [I: 12:34] Holidays at Thorpeness, experience of the environment as a child [I: 16:00] Applying to UEA, undergraduate memories [I:18:03] Fieldwork on the North Sea [I: 25:03] Other fieldwork experiences at UEA [I: 29:05] Memories of cohort members from ENV [I: 34:00] Job interviews out of undergraduate studies [I: 35:47] Memories of Trevor Davies [I: 41:26] Early computing experience [I: 42:27] Decision to do a PhD [I: 45:30] Memories of Hubert Lamb [I: 46:45] Developing computing side of PhD [I: 48:31] Trip to Monash University climate conference [I: 50:20] PhD funding through Commercial Union Insurance [I: 54:21] Conclusions from her PhD [I: 56:33] CRU in Raper’s early days [I: 58:38] Early encounters with proxy evidence [I: 1:04:38] Husband, Keith Briffa [I: 1:05:07] Finishing PhD and viva [I: 1:08:37] Difference in approach to climate knowledge between Lamb and later generations at CRU [I: 1:15:17] Trip to USA post-PhD [1:17:47] Job at Met Office [1:27:00] Track Two Details on job at Met O 13 [II: 00:37] Computing tech at Met Office [II: 07:51] Return to CRU [II: 10:13] Gender and working at Met Office [II: 11:46] Data gathering and homogenizing (particularly Antarctica) for global temperature with Phil Jones [II:13:20] Shift to working with Tom Wigley and MAGICC model [II: 17:20] Contribution to IPCC reports [II: 19:53] Difference in speed between complex models and MAGICC: [II: 21:50] Tuning MAGICC to GCMs [II: 22:14] DOE funding [II: 24:40] CRU post-Lamb [II: 26:21] Climate and History Conference, 1979 [II: 27:41] Sulphate aerosol forcing [II: 30:41] Work on glaciers and relationship to sea level rise [II: 32:21] Work at Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven [II: 34:25] Glacial fieldwork [II: 37:52] Work at Manchester Metropolitan University [II: 41:00] Proprietary nature of MAGICC [II: 45:58] Pension through USS and CRU [II 48:11] IPCC contribution alongside other work [II: 51:05] Evolving politics of IPCC [II; 53:54] Gender at IPCC [II: 56: 51] Memories of Tom Wigley [II: 1:01:17] Funding precarity at CRU [II: 1:02:41] Tensions of models and modelling design [II: 1:08:19] Memories of Michael McIntyre [II: 1:08:19] Relationship between empirical data and modeling [II: 1:12:14] Emissions scenarios [II: 1:15:20]