About the researcher
Michel d. S. Mesquita
Chartered Statistician, data scientist, and researcher with over 15 years of experience across academia and industry. Michel founded M2Lab CSDS — the Centre for Statistical and Data Science Research — to provide rigorous, evidence-based analysis and training to organisations that value scientific integrity.
His work spans Bayesian and frequentist modelling, AI agent architectures, climate science, and reproducible research. He has authored 68+ peer-reviewed publications in journals including Global Change Biology, Journal of Geophysical Research, and the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. He has trained over 1,600 researchers and professionals across three continents and secured over $10M in research funding.
Previously, Michel led a research group of ~20 scientists at NORCE Norwegian Research Centre (Research Scientist I, professor-level) and co-led the Global and Regional Projections group at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research. He contributes pro bono to the Royal Statistical Society’s Statisticians for Society programme.
Michel holds a PhD in Atmospheric Sciences (University of Alaska Fairbanks, GPA 4.0), an MSc in Geophysics & Climatology (University of Bergen), and a first-class BSc in Mathematics & Statistics (The Open University) — and is accredited by the Royal Statistical Society as a Chartered Statistician (CStat) and Chartered Data Analyst.
Education
PhD Atmospheric Sciences
University of Alaska Fairbanks · USA
Climate variability, storm tracks, and statistical climatology. GPA 4.0 — Golden Key Honour Society
MSc Geophysics & Climatology
University of Bergen · Norway
Physical geosciences, climate modelling, and regional climate analysis
BSc Mathematics & Statistics
The Open University · UK
First-class honours in pure mathematics, probability, and statistical inference
Professional certifications
Chartered Statistician (CStat)
Royal Statistical Society
The highest professional accreditation in UK statistics — recognising sustained excellence in statistical practice
Graduate Statistician (GradStat)
Royal Statistical Society
Certified statistical training and foundation-level professional standing
Chartered Data Analyst
Royal Statistical Society
Professional certification in applied data analysis and interpretation
Associate Member (AMIMA)
Institute of Mathematics and its Applications
Certified associate membership recognising professional competence in applied mathematics
Selected publications
Prompt Bloating and Optimisation in Machine Translation with LLMs
2024Working paper / M2Lab
Controlled study with GPT-4o across four languages. 45.7% token reduction with no measurable quality loss.
Path analysis reveals combined winter climate and pollution effects on the survival of a marine top predator
2024Journal of Animal Ecology
Path analysis linking climate variability and pollution to Atlantic seabird population dynamics.
Centennial relationships between ocean temperature and Atlantic puffin production
2021Global Change Biology
Long-term ecological study linking centennial ocean temperature trends to seabird breeding success.
e-WRF: An Online Education System for Weather Research and Forecasting
2016Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS)
Co-authored with Oxford. Virtualised weather modelling platform for global education.
There is more to climate than the NAO: explaining variability in seabird population growth rates
2015Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Novel climate-dynamics approach beyond the North Atlantic Oscillation to explain population variability.
Diagnosis of regime-dependent cloud simulation errors in CMIP5 models using A-Train satellite observations
2013Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
NASA-led evaluation of global climate model cloud simulations using satellite data.
Full publication record on ORCID.
Teaching & training
WRF Workshops
1,600+ researchers and professionals trained across three continents (South America, Europe, Africa). Multi-day intensive courses on numerical weather prediction.
Statistical Methods
Lectures and tutorials on Bayesian inference, regression modelling, time series analysis, and uncertainty quantification for graduate students and practitioners.
Data Science & AI
Training on reproducible research workflows, agent architectures, prompt engineering, and applied machine learning.
Pro bono & civic contributions
Statisticians for Society — RSS Pro Bono Programme
Royal Statistical Society
Providing statistical analysis pro bono to civic organisations. Current project: UNJUST — analysing racial disparities in police stop-and-search data across England & Wales. Published as a live, open-access dashboard.
Research leadership
Group Leader — Regional Climate Modelling
NORCE Norwegian Research Centre · 2010–2012
Led a group of ~20 researchers, PhD students, and affiliate scientists. Research Scientist I (professor-level) for 11 years.
Co-Leader — Global and Regional Projections Group
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research · 2010–2012
Co-led research group at one of Europe’s largest centres for climate research.
Head of Research & Development
Future Solutions AS · 2017–2020
Developed AI and data science products. Secured over $10M in funding for businesses. Created a startup and three digital products for the Norwegian market.
Peer review
Journal reviewer
- Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
- Journal of Climate
- Journal of Geophysical Research
- Modeling Earth Systems and Environment
Languages
English
Full professional
Portuguese
Native
Norwegian
Full professional
Spanish
Full professional
French
Elementary
Italian
Limited working
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