Functions
The Research Division at the Kenya Meteorological Department is charged with the responsibility of coordination research activities in the Department and the public Universities and also work closely with the National Research Institutes. The Division disseminates research findings through organizations of international conferences, workshops and seminars which are held fairly frequently. The Division takes the lead in developing projects in priority areas designed to advance sustainable human development in Kenya. Key priority areas of research are in the fields of weather prediction, climate variability and change and in applied meteorology.
For the future, it is the intention of the Kenya Meteorological Department and the Institute for Meteorological Training and Research in particular; to create an effective research infrastructure which would enable meteorologists and other allied professionals to focus on national meteorological research needs based on relevant programmes with the potential for generating appropriate technologies for development.
Facilities
The Kenya Meteorological Department maintains a large data bank for all meteorological parameters, with records going back some 100 years. Data processing facilities including up-to-date processing software is available for use by researchers. The Division maintain data bases such as ISIS for research work completed by various scientists from different institutions in the country such as drought, climate change etc.
Seminars and special events
Seminars on topical subjects are organized weekly - every Thursday afternoon. Most of these are given by scientists from the Department. Visitors from outside the country are also regularly scheduled to give special seminars of interest to the local scientists. The Kenya Meteorological Society and the Meteorological Department are now regularly organizing joint National Workshops and international conferences. Future announcements for these events will be available in our web-site.
Partners and Links
The Institute has continued to offer excellent facilities and services in training and research in the field of weather and water resources. Excellent computational facilities and an environmental laboratory have been set up. These facilities would not have been put up without the close links that have been maintained with other international institutions involved in training and research in meteorology, applied hydrology and water resources management. We look forward for further collaboration especially in Consultancy Services for water resources management in Africa.
Other equally important collaborators include:-