EMS Silver Medal

The EMS Silver Medal was established in 2008 to highlight distinguished contributions to the development of meteorology in Europe.
The Award consists of the Silver Medal and a certificate. The awardee is invited to give a Silver Medal Lecture the EMS Annual Meeting.The Award is presented annually.

Candidates for the EMS Silver Medal can be nominated by EMS Member Societies and Associate Members, EMS Committees and Project Teams through their respective chairs, and EMS Council representatives. The EMS Awards Committee, consisting of senior members of meteorological institutions in Europe, makes recommendations to the EMS Council for a final decision.

NEW: The EMS Council in March 2025 update the conditions for future nominations:

“Nominations of candidates identifying as female are accepted in uneven years, nominations of candidates identifying as male are accepted in even years, and nominations of non-binary candidates are accepted in any year”

Note that option to forward unsuccessful nominations from one year to the next will remain in place; the alternating years only refer to nominations in specific years.
The call for the 2026 Silver Medal will open in autumn 2025 and invite nominations of candidates identifying as male and non-binary candidates.

Florence Rabier is the EMS Silver Medallist 2025

photo Florence Rabier

Florence Rabier is honoured for her ground-breaking scientific, academic and leadership career, marked by pioneering contributions to variational data assimilation of satellite observations in NWP, and her proactive role positioning ECMWF at the forefront of the machine learning revolution.

The Silver Medal ceremony, which includes a Silver Medal Lecture by the Laureate, will be held during the Annual Meeting of the EMS in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 7 – 12 September 2025. See for more details.

Silver Medal Lecture: Numerical Weather Prediction: the strength of a common goal

Terms and conditions EMS Silver Medal

Last revised: 30 March 2022

Name of the Award

The EMS Silver Medal

 

Eligibility and Decision Process

The EMS Silver Medal is presented annually to a person who has made distinguished contributions to the development of meteorology in Europe.

Criteria used in the evaluation of the nominated candidates are given below. All three are important in the evaluation process:

  • Service to the European meteorological community (i.e. academic activity, leadership in relevant national and international organisations, serving as editor of relevant regular publications such as journals etc.)
  • Outstanding contributions to increase and enhance the public understanding of relevant meteorological aspects and issues (i.e. communications on climate issues, publication of relevant books addressing wider circles of our society, activity on the media, organisation and steering of educational and training projects, etc.)
  • Scientific contributions to meteorology and related fields (i.e. scientific achievements with international recognition, relevant publications, scientific leadership and management, etc.)

Nominations

Candidates may be proposed to the Awards Committee by

  • EMS Member Societies,
  • EMS Associate Members,
  • EMS Committees and Project Teams, or
  • EMS Council members.

Nominations of candidates identifying as female are accepted in uneven years, nominations of candidates identifying as male are accepted in even years, and nominations of non-binary candidates are accepted in any year.

Nominations must be written in the English language and submitted electronically as pdf-file(s). Any nomination has to include:

  • A Curriculum Vitae of the nominee, including contact details. Please restrict a publication list to two pages with the most relevant publications highlighted.
  • A statement that explains the achievements and contributions of the nominee to the development of meteorology in Europe, addressing all three criteria detailed above.
  • Two support letters by relevant experts in the field (more than 2 are not accepted), also addressing all three criteria.
  • A proposal for a citation of 30 words or less (condensed summary of the achievements to be used for the announcement of the recipient).

Forwarding of non-selected nominations

The EMS Council approved at its Session in September 2015 that nominations that were not selected for the Award can be forwarded once to be considered again for the award in the following year.

Recommendation and selection process

The Awards Committee develops recommendations of one or more candidates for the EMS Silver Medal for the EMS Council. The EMS Council approves a candidate at its spring meeting each year.

Award

The Laureate receives a medal that is presented during the EMS Annual Meeting. Travel expenses of the Laureate to attend the EMS Annual Meeting will be covered by the EMS (Awards budget). The Laureate is invited to give a “Silver Medal Lecture”.