Call for Papers – PLOS Climate ICUC12 Article Series

PLOS Climate invites submissions for a special article series connected to the 12th International Conference on Urban Climate (ICUC12). The series aims to highlight diverse research addressing the broad challenges and opportunities of urban climates, encouraging interdisciplinary and international contributions. Accepted papers will benefit from increased visibility through blogs, social media, and potential press releases.

Submissions can include any of the journal’s article types: Research Articles, Reviews, Essays, or Opinions. Manuscripts should be submitted through the PLOS Climate Editorial Manager portal, with “ICUC12 article series” mentioned in the cover letter. The submission deadline is 30 November 2025. Articles will be published on a rolling basis, and the full series is expected to conclude by mid-2026.

For detailed author guidelines and submission instructions, visit:
https://latitude.plos.org/2025/05/plos-climate-icuc12-call-for-papers/

Call for Papers – PLOS Climate “Climate Change and Cities” Collection

PLOS Climate announces a new “living” collection in support of the forthcoming IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities. The collection will evolve over time, providing a dynamic, open repository of research, data, and commentary for urban climate scientists, policymakers, and practitioners worldwide.

Scope and Themes:

• Urban emissions sources and reduction
• Urban and city-specific climate impacts, vulnerabilities, and risks
• Mitigation and adaptation in cities (including metrics and evaluation)
• Climate resilience across sectors and communities
• Tipping points in urban systems
• Urban climate psychology, behaviours, and attitudes
• Climate justice and equity in just urban transitions
• Multi-level governance of climate change in cities
• Data and information for urban climate action
• Knowledge gaps and uncertainties

The collection is led by Section Editors Benjamin Bechtel (Ruhr University Bochum) and Negin Nazarian (UNSW Sydney). Submissions from all regions and disciplines are encouraged to ensure a globally representative, transdisciplinary dialogue.

Manuscripts should be submitted via the PLOS Climate Editorial Manager portal, indicating “Climate Change and Cities Collection” in the cover letter.

Full details:
https://latitude.plos.org/2024/11/call-for-papers-cities/

PLOS Climate is a fully open-access, peer-reviewed journal published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS), a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating progress in science and medicine through open research. Launched in 2022, the journal publishes interdisciplinary research on all aspects of climate – from physical climate science and impacts to mitigation, adaptation, policy, and social dimensions. PLOS Climate encourages equitable global participation and transparent peer review. Its first Journal Impact Factor is 5.1.

All submissions will go through PLOS Climate’s standard peer-review process. Article processing charges apply to accepted Research Articles, but fees are automatically waived for corresponding authors from Group A or B Research4Life countries or those affiliated with PLOS partner institutions. Reviews, Essays, and Opinions are free of charge.

https://journals.plos.org/climate/

2025 Luke Howard Award

Prof Fei Chen has been awarded Luke Howard Award 2025 for his lifelong achievements and international leadership and impact in the area of urban climate modelling (WRF-Urban).

Bio: Fei Chen is the Associate Head and Professor in the Division of Environment and Sustainability at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Prior to this current role, he spent over 26 years at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR, USA) and led major projects to develop community land/hydrology models, as well as coupled numerical weather prediction and regional climate models. These modeling tools have been adopted by numerous international operational weather prediction centers and research institutions. He led the international efforts to develop the integrated WRF-Urban modeling system. He has made significant contributions to understanding land-atmosphere feedback mechanisms, particularly those affecting the boundary layer and precipitation in urban settings. He currently serves as Co-Chair of WMO-WWRP Urban-Predict Project, Co-Editor-in-Chief of Urban Climate, and Co-Chair of the Urban Meteorology Committee, Chinese Meteorological Society. He is elected Fellow of American Meteorological Society (AMS) and American Geophysical Union and was an Elected Board Member of the International Association for Urban Climate (IAUC) Board. He received the Helmut E. Landsberg Award “for leading the development of the WRF-Urban Modeling System and significant contributions to understanding urban environmental issues” from AMS in 2018. He has authored over 230 peer-reviewed publications including more than 70 journal articles on urbanization impacts on weather, climate, PBL dynamics, and extreme rainfall.

2025 Tim Oke Award

Prof Chao Yuan has been awarded Timothy Oke Award 2025 for leading research work across the boundaries of urban climate science, urban planning and architecture.

Bio: Dr. Chao Yuan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he serves as Deputy Head (Research) and leads the Urban Climate Design Lab. His interdisciplinary work bridges architecture, urban planning, and climate science, with a focus on LiDAR-driven CFD modelling, anthropogenic heat, urban greenery cooling, and design-based heat mitigation. He is the Principal Investigator of several major projects, including the NRF Investigatorship (2025–2030) on urban microclimate nowcasting and heat-health resilience. He collaborates actively with government agencies and international institutions such as ETH Zurich and the University of Cambridge. He also previously collaborated with researchers at MIT. Dr. Yuan was awarded the Presidential Young Professorship by NUS in 2019, and in 2025, he received the Timothy Oke Award for his contributions to urban climate research and design innovation.

Prof Qi Li has been awarded Timothy Oke Award 2025 for her research excellence in large-eddy simulations contributing to fundamental understanding of the physics of flow in the built environment with various application including microplastics.

Bio: Dr. Qi Li completed her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University in 2016. She is currently an associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at Peking University, China. Prior to joining Peking University, she was an associate professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University, U.S. Dr. Li’s research explores the impacts of urban form and function on the atmospheric environment across local to global scales. Her work integrates advanced computational modeling and data-driven approaches to improve understanding and prediction of the urban lower atmosphere. Her research aims to inform strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation in cities. She is the recipient of the US NSF CAREER award in 2022 and the Timothy Oke Award from the International Association for Urban Climate in 2025.

Dear IAUC community,

We are pleased to announce the call for nominations for the Early Career Researcher (ECR) committee leadership under IAUC. Nominations are due by November 3 (Monday), 2025 at 11:59 PM local time, through this form: https://forms.office.com/r/qkHinAGbsc. More information on the positions, eligibility, and procedure is included below and in the nomination form.

Three positions are accepting nominations: ECR Chair, ECR Vice-Chair, and ECR Secretary, for a two-year term starting January 2026. Any IAUC member who identifies as an ECR can be nominated for these positions, and self-nominations are accepted. Each nomination requires at least one other person for support (preferably unaffiliated with the nominee but not required; supervisors can nominate ECRs under their supervision). Both the nominee and the supporter(s) should fill out the nomination form before the end of the nomination. An election will be held in November 2025 if the number of nominations exceeds the number of available positions.

For any questions, please contact the IAUC ECR Working Group through
Cathy Li (xinchang.li@pnnl.gov).

Regards,

IAUC ECR Working Group (Peter Crank, Luis Munoz, Alex Makedonas, Manju Panwar, Timothy Jiang, and Cathy Li)