Prof. Alan O'Neill  CGAM, Dept. of Meteorology, University of Reading 2 Earley Gate, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AU, UK email: alan (at) met.rdg.ac.uk  Phone: +44 (0)1189 318317 http://darc.nerc.ac.uk/ Alan is the Director of the Natural Environment Research Council’s new National Centre for Earth Observation.  He began his research career at The Met Office, where he led research on the large-scale circulation of the atmosphere.  In 1993 he took up the post of Director of the UK University Global Atmospheric Modelling Programme, a post he held concurrently with a professorship at The University of Reading in the Department of Meteorology.  In 2001 he was the founding director of the Data Assimilation Research Centre, an institution which synthesises a wide variety of satellite data to obtain an accurate global picture of the climate system.  He is a Vice-President of The Royal Meteorological Society and a member of the ESA Scientific Advisory Committee.