Where AI Helps Climate Science and Where It Doesn't with Dr Neelesh Rampal

Dr Neelesh Rampal is a climate data scientist at Earth Sciences New Zealand who uses generative AI to understand how record-shattering events like the Auckland Anniversary floods will change as the planet warms. He also co-leads a global task force setting responsible standards for AI in regional climate modelling, as many of the tech giants race into the field.

Neelesh taught himself machine learning, won $1M in competitive Smart Ideas funding with no initial grant-writing experience, used it to help fund his own PhD (completed in two and a half years, full-time), then won a second bid. He was a 2026 Science New Zealand Awards finalist in the Early Career Researcher category.

We discuss:

· How generative AI is being used to forecast weather and model our future climate

· Why "physics-informed" machine learning beats letting a model guess freely

· What Neelesh's work means for critical infrastructure and NZ's climate resilience

Neelesh on Linkedin: https://nz.linkedin.com/in/neelesh-unleashed

NIWA People: https://niwa.co.nz/people/neelesh-rampal

A website on Neelesh's research: https://niwa.co.nz/climate-and-weather/high-resolution-climate-projections-using-physics-and-ai

And his Google Scholar research page: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=D-0-fHUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

Follow us on Instagram: @humaninthelooppodcast

Find us on LinkedIn:

Alaina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaina-luxmoore/

Hamish: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hafriedlander/

Danu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danuabey/

Sign up to The RUSH newsletter: http://eepurl.com/hmARzL

Follow us on Instagram: @humaninthelooppodcast

Find us on LinkedIn:

Alaina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaina-luxmoore/

Hamish: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hafriedlander/

Danu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danuabey/

Sign up to The RUSH newsletter: http://eepurl.com/hmARzL

Email alaina@rushdigital.co.nz if you have feedback, comments, questions or compliments

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.