Hydrologist Anne van Loon (Institute for Environmental Studies) has been appointed professor of Drought Risk and Water Security from 1 August. This new chair investigates processes at the interface of hydrological and social systems.
The drought group's research integrates natural and social sciences to understand and manage drought as a complex, systemic and human-influenced phenomenon. Van Loon and her colleagues study these processes from the scale of local communities and river basins to the global level.
Risk analysis
They build on the group's expertise in socio-hydrology, drought impact analysis and adaptation modelling, and conduct risk analyses using agent-based models, machine learning and qualitative and narrative approaches, among others. They also focus on drought-flood interactions, dynamic vulnerability and feedbacks between human adaptation and the water system.
The research group is strongly embedded in (inter)national networks such as Expertise Netwerk Zoetwater en Droogte (ENZD), Boussinesq Center for Hydrology and the Drought in the Anthropocene Network.
Co-creation
The researchers co-create solutions with stakeholders through participatory methods, interaction between science and policy and between science and art. In addition, they support policy making and resilience building in drought-prone regions in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Furthermore, they train the next generation of water professionals through innovative, interdisciplinary education.
Van Loon: "This chair signals an increased focus on drought research in the Netherlands. It is a recognition of the work the drought group in the IVM has built up over the past few years."
