The Environmental Change Institute is delighted to share the news that Professor Jim Hall, Director of the Oxford Programme for Sustainable Infrastructure Systems (OPSIS) and Professor of Climate and Environmental Risks at the University of Oxford, has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).
This prestigious honour recognises individuals who have made substantial contributions to the advancement of natural knowledge, including in the fields of science, engineering, mathematics and medicine. Election to the Fellowship is regarded as one of the highest accolades in science and is held for life.
Professor Hall joined the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) in 2011 as Director of the research centre, part of the School of Geography and the Environment at Oxford. His leadership and research have made a profound impact on infrastructure resilience, climate risk, and systems analysis in the UK and globally.
On the announcement of the award, Professor Hall said:
I’m honoured to be in the company of such great scientists, both the current generation of Fellows of the Royal Society, and the giants of previous generations upon whose shoulders we stand.
“This honour reflects the enormous contributions from my research group and all of the people with whom I’ve collaborated during my career. Science is a team endeavour, and I’ve been very fortunate to work with brilliant and inspiring people. I’d particularly like to recognise the hard work of many PhD students and researchers who I’ve supervised over the years, and the continued dedication of my team in the Oxford Programme for Sustainable Infrastructure Systems. We have many great challenges that we are working on now and aim to solve in the future.”
Prof Hall is one of more than 90 researchers worldwide to be elected to the Fellowship this year by the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences.
A Remarkable Career in Infrastructure, Risk and Environmental Science
Professor Hall’s work bridges science, policy and engineering. He currently serves as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), is a member of the Expert Advisory Council at the National Infrastructure Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) – formed in April 2025 by the merger of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) – and is a member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2010 for his pioneering contributions to flood risk analysis — methods that have shaped UK and international approaches to flood management.
As part of Oxford’s Agile Initiative, Professor Hall contributes to rapid interdisciplinary research tackling urgent environmental challenges. He has also played influential roles on the UK’s Committee on Climate Change Adaptation (2009–2019) and as Chair of the Science Advisory Committee at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA).
At Oxford, his research group leads globally in analysing risks from climate extremes and their impacts on infrastructure networks and economies. His team developed the National Infrastructure Systems Model (NISMOD), used in the UK’s first National Infrastructure Assessment, as well as models for water resource planning and network resilience. Professor Hall also founded and chairs the UK’s Data and Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure (DAFNI).
His methods have been applied in countries across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America, as well as in global assessments. He has authored over 160 peer-reviewed journal articles with more than 15,000 citations, served as editor of Water Resources Research (2017–2022), and written four books, including The Future of National Infrastructure: A System-of-Systems Approach.
Among his numerous distinctions are the George Stephenson Medal (ICE, 2001) and the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (2018). He also contributed to the Nobel Prize-winning Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Harnessing Data to Monitor Global Trade Disruptions
Among his recent contributions, Professor Hall has played a key role in developing the PortWatch platform, a joint initiative between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Oxford Programme for Sustainable Infrastructure Systems (OPSIS) at ECI. PortWatch provides near real-time insights into global maritime trade by tracking ship movements, cargo volumes, and port activity. Initially designed to support countries facing climate and economic shocks, the platform is now being used by policymakers and economists to monitor global supply chain risks. Most recently, The Economist cited PortWatch data in coverage of the US–China trade situation, highlighting its value in detecting early economic signals where traditional indicators fall short.
Pioneering Tools for Climate Resilience
Professor Hall has also been instrumental in the development of the Systemic Risk Assessment Tool (SRAT), a cutting-edge platform designed to help countries most vulnerable to extreme weather events build climate resilience. In a world-first, Jamaica recently completed implementation of the tool—known as J-SRAT—developed by the University of Oxford in collaboration with the Jamaican Government, the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment (CCRI), and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. SRAT identifies climate risk ‘hotspots’ across critical infrastructure networks such as energy, water, and transport, enabling governments to target investments where they are most urgently needed. Professor Hall’s analytical methods underpin the tool’s high-resolution risk modelling, which is already being recognised as a game-changer in the global effort to unlock investment in climate adaptation.
About the Fellowship
The Royal Society Fellowship represents the pinnacle of scientific recognition in the UK. New Fellows join the ranks of historic figures such as Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Lise Meitner, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, and Dorothy Hodgkin.
Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society, said:
It is with great pleasure that I welcome the latest cohort of outstanding researchers into the Fellowship of the Royal Society.
“Their achievements represent the very best of scientific endeavour, from basic discovery to research with real-world impact across health, technology and policy... The strength of the Fellowship lies not only in individual excellence, but in the diversity of backgrounds, perspectives and experiences each new member brings. This cohort represents the truly global nature of modern science and the importance of collaboration in driving scientific breakthroughs.”