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ECMWF and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have developed a scheme under which ECMWF regularly hosts forecasters or researchers from National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) of least developed and developing countries for up to one year. The scheme is part of the WMO Fellowship Programme, which was set up after the WMO identified a need for specialised training placements to develop capacity in least developed and developing countries. The aim is to expand the international network of cooperation opportunities between experts in weather forecasting. The scheme is part of long-standing efforts by the WMO and ECMWF to raise the level of scientific knowledge in weather forecasting across the globe.
Fellowship holders will work with ECMWF experts on a project (see below for examples), there will also be opportunities to participate in training courses and be involved with other ECMWF activities. The aim is for the knowledge and understanding gained during the Fellowship to be used to help build the capabilities of the Fellow's respective National Meteorological and Hydrological Service (NMHS) so that those services can make a bigger contribution to the social and economic development of the country.
The current ECMWF WMO Fellow is Ruth Mahubessy from the Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG), who is researching the forecasting of convective weather in Indonesia using ECMWF models.
Previous ECMWF Fellows and the projects worked on are:
- Angela Iza Wong, a forecaster from the Ecuadoran Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (INAMHI), who evaluated rainfall forecasts in Ecuador: Observations from AI and physical models Forecasting and published a paper on the Evaluation of Precipitation Observations Across Ecuador.
- Ahmed Shabin, a meteorologist from the Maldives Meteorological Service, who worked on Evaluating ECMWF weather forecasts for the Maldives region.
- Kaah Menang, a meteorologist and researcher from the National Department of Meteorology, Cameroon, who worked on developing a Climate Data Store application for Africa.
Applications for the ECMWF Fellowship Scheme 2026 are now open. To apply, please visit the job advert on the ECMWF Jobs Portal.
Prospective fellowship holders are asked to submit a project idea which will form part of the application evaluation. Project ideas should aim to make an essential contribution to developing forecasting capabilities in the prospective fellowship's own country and an estimation for how long the project/s will take should be included. Projects can be in any relevant area or topic however ECMWF is particularly interested in:
- Products combining NWP and AI forecasts
- Observations and their impact on forecast quality
- Thematic applications - e.g. Flood, energy, health
During the Fellowship, the successful applicant will also be asked to work with the communications team on a news article/s about their work and also present internally to ECMWF staff on their background, work and aims.
Once all applications have been reviewed a shortlist will be established and those candidates will be invited for a short interview about their project and the Fellowship.