My prime research interest is understanding how global warming affects the number and intensity of extreme weather events like heat waves, heavy rainfall and persistent droughts. I use a variety of methods, including advanced statistical analyses, climate models and novel machine learning techniques, to gain new insights. I hold a second position at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) and I coordinate Climate Data Science research between IVM and KNMI. Working with high-level stakeholders (e.g. the World Bank) ensures that my research focusses on the most relevant extremes, i.e. those with the highest risks for society. I have authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications, with several in top-ranking journals, the IPCC 5th Assessment Report, 3 World Bank reports and several book chapters. I am a Web of Science highly cited scientist which reflects that I published multiple highly-cited papers ranking in the top 1% of their field,

For the latest, please visit my groups research pages: climateextremes.eu 

Expertise

Extreme weather, climate change, atmosphere dynamics, climate models, complex system analyses, causal inference in climate, predictability

2003-2008: PhD in Natural Sciences, ETH-Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

1995-2001: MSc in Geophysics, University of Utrecht, Utrecht Netherlands

• 2020 Horizon-2020, vice-coordinator Extreme Events: Artificial Intelligence for Detection ad Attribution (XAIDA), €700k
• JPI-AXIS, co-PI, Land Management for Climate Mitigation and Adaptation (LAMACLIMA), €250
• H2020, co-PI, Remote Climate Effects and their Impact on European sustainability, Policyand Trade (RECEIPT), €300k
• 2018 Horizon-2020, co-PI, Tipping Points in the Earth System (TiPES), EUR300k
• 2018 German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), co-PI, Climate Change and Extreme Events (ClimExtreme), EUR 250k
• 2018 Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), co-PI, Improvement of subseasonal probabilistic forecasts of European high-impact weather events using machine learning techniques (IMPRINT), granted EUR 250k
• 2018 European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF), co-PI, Operational Sectoral Information System for the Wind Storm Insurance Sector, granted EUR 50k
• 2017 Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), Personal VIDI-award, Persistent Summer Extremes (PERSIST), granted EUR 800k
• 2016 Belmont-JPI Climate, PI, Globally Observed Teleconnections in a Hierarchy of Atmosphere Models (GOTHAM), granted EUR 413k
• 2013 German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Personal Junior Research Group grant, Model- and observation-based analysis of the drivers behind variability in large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns and their influence on extreme weather events (SACRE-X), granted EUR 817k
• 2012 German Research Foundation (DFG), personal grant, Stability of atmospheric circulation patterns and its relation to extreme events, granted EUR 162k
• 2011 Climate-KIC, public outreach project on Extreme Weather and Climate Change (www.aufgeheizt.org), start-up incubator facilities (in-kind funding) + EUR 10k
• 2011 Volkswagen Foundation, PI on science outreach proposal "From a Dialogue on Extremes, to Extreme Dialogues", granted EUR 75k

• BSc Honours course ’Climate Change’ 
• MSc course ’Climate Hydrological Processes’

• Beyond Weather | Utrecht | Partner | 2023-12-07 - 2026-12-31

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