Climate science is a broad and diverse field of research. Similar to designers, climate scientists specialise in different themes and systems, and work with different methods, tools and models. Some scientists study distinct physical phenomena, such as ice sheet melting and the adaptation of ecosystem, while others develop meteorological models and future scenarios, others still research the financial systems around sustainable development and work at policy-level and contribute to the IPCC reports for example, others study the effects of specific societal transitions and behaviour change on the development of climate change. This variety of scales and systems addressed by climate researchers resonates with how designers can and do position themselves and their practice in relation to the existing societal structures. The collaborating scientists engaged within this project thus represent a variety of themes and methods.
With the open call for designers, we invite the applicants to indicate two preferences among the 5 scientific partners, supported by a motivation of their choice and an indication for how they envision the upcoming collaboration with a climate scientist from that department group/chair/institute. This preference will serve as a starting point for the matching process.
Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) is the national oceanographic institute and the Netherlands’ centre of expertise for ocean, sea and coast. NIOZ advances fundamental understanding of marine systems, the way they change, the role they play in climate and biodiversity, and how they may provide sustainable solutions to society in the future.
Evy Gobbens and Hailley Danielson-Owczynsky, PhD candidates at the department of Coastal Ecosystems will join the laboratory and will collaborate with designers. The Coastal Ecosystems department is focused on understanding how various levels of ecological organisation respond to environmental change through studies on eco-evolutionary patterns and processes in the coastal zone.
Evy Gobbens (NIOZ)
PhD Candidate at NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
Website
Graduated in 2021 from Wageningen University & Research (MSc Forest and Nature Conservation: Wildlife Ecology & Conservation)
Areas of expertise: Shorebirds, Marine Ecology, Sea Level Rise
Evy Gobbens is a PhD Candidate at NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research. In December 2021, Evy began her research on the effects of sea-level rise on shorebirds in the Wadden Sea. In her research she often conducts fieldwork which involves observing the birds behaviours, catching and measuring them or tagging and tracking them. One of the techniques involves collecting samples of bird faeces, in which Evy is able to gain a detailed view of the diet and behaviour of shore birds. The ecosystem of the Wadden Sea is complex and relies on the intertidal dynamics of flood and ebb. As sea level-rise occurs, the question is can the ecosystem of the Wadden Sea follow suit? Evy's research aims to inform our forecasts of this, by researching how bird diets and habitats are affected by the current changes in the sea level.
Hailley Danielson-Owczynsky (NIOZ/Utrecht University)
PhD Candidate at NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research and the Utrecht University
Website
Graduated in 2022 from Utrecht University (MSc Marine Sciences, a multidisciplinary program)
Areas of expertise: Benthic Invertebrates, Marine Ecology, Sea Level Rise
Hailley is currently researching invertebrates living at the bottom of the Dutch Wadden Sea, and the intertidal ecosystems they live in. Those creatures have evolved and adapted to the specific intertidal conditions of the Wadden Sea, alternating between flood and ebb. As sea level-rise occurs, the question is can the ecosystem of the Wadden Sea follow suit? Hailley’s goal is to forecast the effects of sea-level rise on the Wadden Sea ecosystem. To do this she uses existing, long-term datasets and a modelling approach.
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) is the Dutch national weather service. Primary tasks of KNMI are weather forecasting and monitoring of weather, climate, air quality and seismic activity. KNMI is also the national research and information centre for meteorology, climate, air quality, and seismology.
Frank Selten and Karin van de Wiel, senior scientists at the department of Research and Development of Weather and Climate models, will join the laboratory and will collaborate with designers. The department of Research and Development of Weather and Climate models, led by Sybren Drijfhout, develops, improves, runs and analyses weather and climate models for weather forecasts and climate projections, based on knowledge of the important physical processes, sources of variability, advanced statistical and machine learning methods, and techniques to measure model quality.
Frank Selten (KNMI)
Senior Climate Scientist
Website
Graduated in 1989 from the Eindhoven University of Technology (MSc Physics).
PhD novel methodology for modelling large-scale atmospheric dynamics (1995)
Areas of expertise: Climate Change; Dynamical Systems; Predictability; Climate Modelling
Frank Selten has been researching how climate models are created and how statistical models can be implemented for many years. He has worked as a climate research scientist at the KNMI since 1995. In his current research he is responsible for the creation of future meteorological scenarios for the Netherlands. With a vast set of sensors spread throughout the country, his team collects data every 3 hours of the current meteorological conditions. Based on this they have so far generated and explored 16 scenarios of the possible climate in the Netherlands in 2050 and 2100.
Within the incubator Frank is particularly interested in the potential to combine scientific and design methods in the translation of data scenarios into experiential and narrative scenarios.
Karin van de Wiel (KNMI)
Senior Climate Scientist
Website
Graduated in 2011 from Wageningen University & Research (MSc Meteorology and Air Quality)
PhD Meteorology, Mechanisms for the existence of diagonal Southern Hemisphere convergence zones
Areas of expertise: Climate Change, Meteorology (2017)
Karin van de Wiel’s research focuses on climate change, extreme weather events, and how these influence society or ecosystems, for example extreme precipitation events and consequent flooding, or the sensitivity of renewable power systems to meteorological variability. Furthermore, she is currently involved in making the next generation of KNMI climate scenarios for the Netherlands.
Her methods include data analysis, global climate modelling, Python programming, scientific writing, and science communication. With her work she aims to contribute to increasing our understanding of Earth’s weather and climate in a way that is useful for society.
PBL
Detlef van Vuuren (PBL/UU)
Senior researcher
Website
Graduated in 1995 from Utrecht University (MSc Environmental Sciences)
PhD Environmental Science and Chemistry
Areas of expertise: Climate Change, Energy Use, Climate Policy
With his team at PBL, they apply a range of modelling methods to develop future scenarios, based on a variety of social and systemic factors that affect the onset of climate change. Detlef’s team generates data-driven insights on the way a range of societal and individual changes might result in different climate scenarios.
Vassilis Daioglou (PBL)
Senior researcher at PBL
Website
Graduated in 2010 from Utrecht University (MSc Sustainable Development - Energy and Resources)
PhD The role of biomass in climate change mitigation
Areas of expertise: Climate Change, Climate-Land-Energy-Water Nexus
Vassilis’ research interests lie in developing and projecting pathways towards sustainable development, the interconnections between climate, land, energy and water and developing methods to assess their physical and socio-economic interactions. He does this by developing and applying modelling methods in order to assess the roles that different social and technological transitions have in meeting sustainability targets.
Nicole van den Berg (UU/PBL)
PhD Candidate at Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Guest researcher at PBL
Website
Graduated in 2017 from Delft University of Technology (MSc Industrial Ecology)
Areas of expertise: Sustainable Behaviour
Nicole is currently researching sustainable behaviour and its effect on long-term global emissions using integrated assessment modelling. Her PhD research investigates how and what lifestyle changes can contribute to climate change mitigation by developing informed narratives and emission pathways with insights from multiple disciplines.
Eindhoven University of Technology
The Technology, Innovation & Society (TIS) group within the Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences at Technical University Eindhoven (TU/e), studies how technologies intertwine with radical transformations in work, travel, communication, and private life. The Technology, Innovation & Society group studies sustainable innovation and transitions in systemic, transdisciplinary, and transnational perspectives. Pieter Pauw, researcher at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences will join the laboratory and will collaborate with designers.
Pieter Pauw (TU/e)
University Researcher
Website
Graduated in 2008 from VU University Amsterdam (MSc Environment and Resource Management’)
PhD Private climate change adaptation and private adaptation finance in developing countries (2017)
Areas of expertise: Sustainability, Climate Change, Climate Finance, Policy and Justice
Pieter Pauw focuses on climate finance, climate policy, adaptation and climate justice in his work.
Pieter Pauw is an expert on international climate policy and has written extensively on climate finance, adaptation, national climate action plans and climate fairness/CBDR. Pieter currently works at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), where he conducts research and provides policy advice on international climate policy and climate finance. Before joining the TU/e, Pieter worked at e.g. the FS-UNEP Centre and the German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE – now renamed IDOS) in Bonn, where his research focused more on financing adaptation in developing countries, climate justice issues and Nationally Determined Contributions. Alongside his research work, he writes opinion articles for the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad on a regular basis on environment and climate issues. Pieter also gives interviews in the media regularly.
Nikki Kluskens (TU/e)
University Researcher
Website
European Law School (Bachelor of Laws from Radboud University, The Netherlands, 2014-2017).
Sustainability Science & Policy (Master of Science from Maastricht University, The Netherlands, 2018-2019).)
Areas of expertise: Sustainability Science, Energy Transition, Social Acceptance, Participation and Justice.
Nikki Kluskens focuses on social acceptability, citizen engagement & participation, and justice in the context of the energy transition. Nikki currently works as a PhD researcher at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), where she conducts research and teaches about the social aspects of sustainability in general and in specific the energy transition. Themes that are in particular central in her research are social acceptability of the energy transition, inclusive engagement and justice in transforming energy systems. Besides her work as PhD researcher she is setting up a blog in which she tries to make her own research more understandable for non-academic audience.
The Chair of Sea level and coastal impacts is led by professor Roderik van de Wal, under a combined appointment of the Faculties of Science and Geosciences of the University of Utrecht. The chair of Sea level and coastal impacts is part of the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research Utrecht (IMAU), and focuses on understanding the uncertainties of future sea level rise, a topic that has become increasingly important in recent years, both in the Netherlands and internationally. Research in this area requires a combined modelling and observation approach at the interface of the natural and earth sciences. Roderik van de Wal will join the laboratory and will collaborate with designers.
Roderik van de Wal (UU)
Professor of Sea level and coastal impacts
Website
Graduated from Utrecht University (MSc Physical Geography)
PhD on Ice and Climate (1992)
Areas of expertise: Sea Level Change, Climate Change, Antarctica, Greenland, Ice Ages, Climate Dynamics
At Utrecht University, Roderik holds the chair of Sea level and coastal impacts, where he leads a team of PhD researchers, working on a variety of topics within the general theme of sea level, measurement and prediction of impacts. His research focuses on two main topics: climate dynamics (paleo climate modelling, climate sensitivity, ice core interpretation, and sea level variations and patterns) and changes in the cryosphere (ice dynamics of Greenland and Antarctica and glacier modelling). As sea level rise is the consequence of many variable factors, there is always a great variety in the resulting impact estimations. This is a challenge for the process of developing the models, as well as for communicating the results and insights in a way that can inform action and policy. This requires the detailed and integrated study of a variety of phenomena.
Tim van den Akker (UU)
PhD candidate on ice sheet modelling Areas of expertise: Antarctica, ice sheet modelling, ice dynamics
As a PhD student at the Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU), Tim is interested in the future of the Antarctic ice sheet. To study this future, he uses models to represent the present day state of the ice sheet, and then ‘run them into the future’ on timescales up to 1000 years from now. Recently, his interest narrowed to the two biggest outlet glaciers of Antarctica: Pine Island and Thwaites glacier. There is debate whether the retreat of those glaciers is accelerating and/or irreversible. With his model setup, he tries to contribute to this discussion.
Graduated from Utrecht University (MSc Climate Physics, MSc Energy Science)
Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) is the national oceanographic institute and the Netherlands’ centre of expertise for ocean, sea and coast. NIOZ advances fundamental understanding of marine systems, the way they change, the role they play in climate and biodiversity, and how they may provide sustainable solutions to society in the future.
Evy Gobbens and Hailley Danielson-Owczynsky, PhD candidates at the department of Coastal Ecosystems will join the laboratory and will collaborate with designers. The Coastal Ecosystems department is focused on understanding how various levels of ecological organisation respond to environmental change through studies on eco-evolutionary patterns and processes in the coastal zone.
Evy Gobbens (NIOZ)
PhD Candidate at NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
Website
Graduated in 2021 from Wageningen University & Research (MSc Forest and Nature Conservation: Wildlife Ecology & Conservation)
Areas of expertise: Shorebirds, Marine Ecology, Sea Level Rise
Evy Gobbens is a PhD Candidate at NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research. In December 2021, Evy began her research on the effects of sea-level rise on shorebirds in the Wadden Sea. In her research she often conducts fieldwork which involves observing the birds behaviours, catching and measuring them or tagging and tracking them. One of the techniques involves collecting samples of bird faeces, in which Evy is able to gain a detailed view of the diet and behaviour of shore birds. The ecosystem of the Wadden Sea is complex and relies on the intertidal dynamics of flood and ebb. As sea level-rise occurs, the question is can the ecosystem of the Wadden Sea follow suit? Evy's research aims to inform our forecasts of this, by researching how bird diets and habitats are affected by the current changes in the sea level.
Hailley Danielson-Owczynsky (NIOZ/Utrecht University)
PhD Candidate at NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research and the Utrecht University
Website
Graduated in 2022 from Utrecht University (MSc Marine Sciences, a multidisciplinary program)
Areas of expertise: Benthic Invertebrates, Marine Ecology, Sea Level Rise
Hailley is currently researching invertebrates living at the bottom of the Dutch Wadden Sea, and the intertidal ecosystems they live in. Those creatures have evolved and adapted to the specific intertidal conditions of the Wadden Sea, alternating between flood and ebb. As sea level-rise occurs, the question is can the ecosystem of the Wadden Sea follow suit? Hailley’s goal is to forecast the effects of sea-level rise on the Wadden Sea ecosystem. To do this she uses existing, long-term datasets and a modelling approach.
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) is the Dutch national weather service. Primary tasks of KNMI are weather forecasting and monitoring of weather, climate, air quality and seismic activity. KNMI is also the national research and information centre for meteorology, climate, air quality, and seismology.
Frank Selten and Karin van de Wiel, senior scientists at the department of Research and Development of Weather and Climate models, will join the laboratory and will collaborate with designers. The department of Research and Development of Weather and Climate models, led by Sybren Drijfhout, develops, improves, runs and analyses weather and climate models for weather forecasts and climate projections, based on knowledge of the important physical processes, sources of variability, advanced statistical and machine learning methods, and techniques to measure model quality.
Frank Selten (KNMI)
Senior Climate Scientist
Website
Graduated in 1989 from the Eindhoven University of Technology (MSc Physics).
PhD novel methodology for modelling large-scale atmospheric dynamics (1995)
Areas of expertise: Climate Change; Dynamical Systems; Predictability; Climate Modelling
Frank Selten has been researching how climate models are created and how statistical models can be implemented for many years. He has worked as a climate research scientist at the KNMI since 1995. In his current research he is responsible for the creation of future meteorological scenarios for the Netherlands. With a vast set of sensors spread throughout the country, his team collects data every 3 hours of the current meteorological conditions. Based on this they have so far generated and explored 16 scenarios of the possible climate in the Netherlands in 2050 and 2100.
Within the incubator Frank is particularly interested in the potential to combine scientific and design methods in the translation of data scenarios into experiential and narrative scenarios.
Karin van de Wiel (KNMI)
Senior Climate Scientist
Website
Graduated in 2011 from Wageningen University & Research (MSc Meteorology and Air Quality)
PhD Meteorology, Mechanisms for the existence of diagonal Southern Hemisphere convergence zones
Areas of expertise: Climate Change, Meteorology (2017)
Karin van de Wiel’s research focuses on climate change, extreme weather events, and how these influence society or ecosystems, for example extreme precipitation events and consequent flooding, or the sensitivity of renewable power systems to meteorological variability. Furthermore, she is currently involved in making the next generation of KNMI climate scenarios for the Netherlands.
Her methods include data analysis, global climate modelling, Python programming, scientific writing, and science communication. With her work she aims to contribute to increasing our understanding of Earth’s weather and climate in a way that is useful for society.
PBL
Detlef van Vuuren (PBL/UU)
Senior researcher
Website
Graduated in 1995 from Utrecht University (MSc Environmental Sciences)
PhD Environmental Science and Chemistry
Areas of expertise: Climate Change, Energy Use, Climate Policy
With his team at PBL, they apply a range of modelling methods to develop future scenarios, based on a variety of social and systemic factors that affect the onset of climate change. Detlef’s team generates data-driven insights on the way a range of societal and individual changes might result in different climate scenarios.
Vassilis Daioglou (PBL)
Senior researcher at PBL
Website
Graduated in 2010 from Utrecht University (MSc Sustainable Development - Energy and Resources)
PhD The role of biomass in climate change mitigation
Areas of expertise: Climate Change, Climate-Land-Energy-Water Nexus
Vassilis’ research interests lie in developing and projecting pathways towards sustainable development, the interconnections between climate, land, energy and water and developing methods to assess their physical and socio-economic interactions. He does this by developing and applying modelling methods in order to assess the roles that different social and technological transitions have in meeting sustainability targets.
Nicole van den Berg (UU/PBL)
PhD Candidate at Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Guest researcher at PBL
Website
Graduated in 2017 from Delft University of Technology (MSc Industrial Ecology)
Areas of expertise: Sustainable Behaviour
Nicole is currently researching sustainable behaviour and its effect on long-term global emissions using integrated assessment modelling. Her PhD research investigates how and what lifestyle changes can contribute to climate change mitigation by developing informed narratives and emission pathways with insights from multiple disciplines.
Eindhoven University of Technology
The Technology, Innovation & Society (TIS) group within the Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences at Technical University Eindhoven (TU/e), studies how technologies intertwine with radical transformations in work, travel, communication, and private life. The Technology, Innovation & Society group studies sustainable innovation and transitions in systemic, transdisciplinary, and transnational perspectives. Pieter Pauw, researcher at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences will join the laboratory and will collaborate with designers.
Pieter Pauw (TU/e)
University Researcher
Website
Graduated in 2008 from VU University Amsterdam (MSc Environment and Resource Management’)
PhD Private climate change adaptation and private adaptation finance in developing countries (2017)
Areas of expertise: Sustainability, Climate Change, Climate Finance, Policy and Justice
Pieter Pauw focuses on climate finance, climate policy, adaptation and climate justice in his work.
Pieter Pauw is an expert on international climate policy and has written extensively on climate finance, adaptation, national climate action plans and climate fairness/CBDR. Pieter currently works at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), where he conducts research and provides policy advice on international climate policy and climate finance. Before joining the TU/e, Pieter worked at e.g. the FS-UNEP Centre and the German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE – now renamed IDOS) in Bonn, where his research focused more on financing adaptation in developing countries, climate justice issues and Nationally Determined Contributions. Alongside his research work, he writes opinion articles for the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad on a regular basis on environment and climate issues. Pieter also gives interviews in the media regularly.
Nikki Kluskens (TU/e)
University Researcher
LinkedIn
European Law School (Bachelor of Laws from Radboud University, The Netherlands, 2014-2017).
Sustainability Science & Policy (Master of Science from Maastricht University, The Netherlands, 2018-2019).)
Areas of expertise: Sustainability Science, Energy Transition, Social Acceptance, Participation and Justice.
Nikki Kluskens focuses on social acceptability, citizen engagement & participation, and justice in the context of the energy transition. Nikki currently works as a PhD researcher at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), where she conducts research and teaches about the social aspects of sustainability in general and in specific the energy transition. Themes that are in particular central in her research are social acceptability of the energy transition, inclusive engagement and justice in transforming energy systems. Besides her work as PhD researcher she is setting up a blog in which she tries to make her own research more understandable for non-academic audience.
The Chair of Sea level and coastal impacts is led by professor Roderik van de Wal, under a combined appointment of the Faculties of Science and Geosciences of the University of Utrecht. The chair of Sea level and coastal impacts is part of the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research Utrecht (IMAU), and focuses on understanding the uncertainties of future sea level rise, a topic that has become increasingly important in recent years, both in the Netherlands and internationally. Research in this area requires a combined modelling and observation approach at the interface of the natural and earth sciences. Roderik van de Wal will join the laboratory and will collaborate with designers.
Roderik van de Wal (UU)
Professor of Sea level and coastal impacts
Website
Graduated from Utrecht University (MSc Physical Geography)
PhD on Ice and Climate (1992)
Areas of expertise: Sea Level Change, Climate Change, Antarctica, Greenland, Ice Ages, Climate Dynamics
At Utrecht University, Roderik holds the chair of Sea level and coastal impacts, where he leads a team of PhD researchers, working on a variety of topics within the general theme of sea level, measurement and prediction of impacts. His research focuses on two main topics: climate dynamics (paleo climate modelling, climate sensitivity, ice core interpretation, and sea level variations and patterns) and changes in the cryosphere (ice dynamics of Greenland and Antarctica and glacier modelling). As sea level rise is the consequence of many variable factors, there is always a great variety in the resulting impact estimations. This is a challenge for the process of developing the models, as well as for communicating the results and insights in a way that can inform action and policy. This requires the detailed and integrated study of a variety of phenomena.