News

Anne Van Loon has received a positive decision on her ERC Starting Grant proposal. The PerfectSTORM (‘STOrylines of futuRe extreMes’) project will provide five years of funding for research on droughts and floods. Future climate projections show a strengthening of the hydrological cycle with more droughts and floods expected. This means a higher likelihood of … Continue reading ERC Starting Grant for Anne Van Loon

- By Anne Van Loon, Marthe Wens, Raed Hamed Like many others around the world, we have been forced to move our teaching completely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the challenges, this has also been an opportunity for us to develop new teaching methods, try flipping the classroom, and explore the use of … Continue reading Online teaching in courses related to climate risk, drought, water resources and sustainability

Last week we had several discussions within our research group in Amsterdam about #BlackLivesMatter, #ShutDownSTEM & racism in academia. I'm really grateful for the open exchange we had about this sensitive subject, which I think is very important. We feel we should share the outcomes of these discussions, so that others might be inspired to … Continue reading Racism in academia

We are happy to announce that at IVM – VU Amsterdam we have 2 PhD vacancies related to the new EU-funded DOWN2EARTH project. DOWN2EARTH project will assess critical research gaps within the dryland regions of the Horn of Africa (HAD), including i) how climate change affects the characteristics of rainfall and groundwater storage, ii) how … Continue reading 2 PHD VACANCIES DROUGHT RISK IN EAST AFRICA

In Feb 2020 I have moved from my old home at the University of Birmingham (UK) to an exiting new opportunity at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (the Netherlands). I have slightly updated my profile here and also have an (empty) VU page here. At VU I will work as Associate Professor in Drought Risk at … Continue reading Transfer to VU Amsterdam

Our writing retreat in the Peak District took place from 4 to 9 August and had 12 participants from Physical and Human Geography and Environmental Science (University of Birmingham, Bristol, Loughborough, Bologna, China). The week was again very productive and collaborative. This time we trialled structured writing in the morning (Pomodoro-style writing blocks of 40 … Continue reading 2019 writing retreat

Stijn Beernink (KWR Water) presented our research on how to include hydrology in mangrove restoration at the MMM5 conference in Singapore last week. Have a look at the poster here: poster_MMM5_2019_mangrove restoration_portrait. TAKE HOME MESSAGES: 1) failure of mangrove planting can be prevented by considering hydrological conditions 2) hydrological classification can guide making suitable hydrological conditions … Continue reading The hydrology of mangrove restoration

--- by Anne Van Loon --- Sir James Bevan, the Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, in a speech at the Waterwise Conference on 19 March 2019, warned that water demand could surpass water availability in England in 20-25 years (see BBC summary & full speech). In it he warned for complacency and argued for … Continue reading “Jaws of death” or sustainable solutions? About water shortage in England

  -- posted by Anne -- More and more earth scientists, climate scientists, and geographers, are #flyingless. Many believe that in the Anthropocene, with climate change wreaking havoc around the world, it is important to align one's daily life choices with our views and research that require taking responsibility and raising awareness. Actions speak louder than … Continue reading #flyingless

--- by Giuliano Di Baldassarre --- Building dams and reservoirs is one of the most common approaches to cope with drought and water shortage. The aim is straightforward: reservoirs can store water during wet periods, and then release it during dry periods. As such, they can stabilize water availability, thereby satisfying water demand and alleviating … Continue reading Water shortage due to storage? – new paper in Nature Sustainability

--- by Clarissa & Doris --- “Panta Rhei – Everything flows” is the current scientific decade (2013-2022) of the International Association of Hydrological Science (IAHS) that focuses on the interaction between hydrology and society. One of IAHS most active working groups is “Drought in Anthropocene”. Regular meetings are initiated and there is an annual workshop … Continue reading The Birmingham delegation to the Panta Rhei Drought workshop in Utrecht