The Smith Institute’s annual TakeAIM competition is an opportunity for university students to showcase their work on the industrial stage. STOR-i PhD student, Kristina Bratkova, was shortlisted as one of 11 finalists after two rounds of judging.

In discussing her competition entry, titled ‘Structured extreme value models for environmental science’, Kristina wrote: “Heatwaves cause widespread damage to crops, ecosystems, and even loss of life, and they are occurring increasingly often due to climate change. […] We use statistical models based on extreme value theory to investigate the properties of extreme events with hotter temperature and the potential for greater spatial reach and temporal extent than any event previously observed. […] This provides a key input into risk studies of health impacts and emergency planning.”

Commenting on the experience, Kristina said, “I'm honoured to be shortlisted as a finalist in this year's TakeAIM competition! It was motivating to see the work on extreme temperature modelling over the mainland UK being recognised by the Smith Institute and the sponsors. I'd like to thank my supervisors Jonathan Tawn and Emma Eastoe for their ongoing support, Simon Brown from the Met Office for providing the data and insight into the physical processes behind the statistical models, and my sister Emma for constructive criticism and feedback on my submission. I am also grateful to the Smith Institute for organising such a fantastic competition and inviting me to attend the awards ceremony in London. The event was an amazing opportunity to connect with people from both the Smith Institute and the industry. The presentations by the winner and the runners up were inspiring and several companies presented a wide array of potential job opportunities.”

Details of the competition can be found here: https://www.smithinst.co.uk/takeaim/