This role is funded by the research programme on Advancing the Frontiers of Earth System Prediction (AFESP) – a £30 million 15-year investment by the University of Reading, in partnership with the European Centre for Medium-Range Forecasts (ECMWF), the UK Met Office and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science. AFESP will deliver sustained investments to tackle some of the far-term (10–15 year) and difficult (high-risk, high-reward) research challenges in global Earth System prediction. URBANE contributes to the overall goals of the AFESP programme, primarily in the theme of Challenges and opportunities in simulating the Earth System at the kilometre-scale.