A group of researchers, including earth scientist Jeroen Aerts, has received a Synergy Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The scientists are investigating the limits of adaptability to flood risk of rivers.
In this project, Aerts is collaborating with leading scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Princeton University, and the University of Bristol.
Flood risks
Climate change is increasing flood risks in river areas. As a result, people are protecting themselves against those risks. This can be done in various ways, such as a government building dykes, or - especially outside the Netherlands - people choosing to build their homes on higher ground.
However, there is a limit to adaptability. In the LIMIT2ADAPT project, researchers are looking at what the limit of that adaptability of individuals and governments is.
Computer models
Aerts: 'Using computer models, we are investigating which limits arise where. The moment such a limit arises, two things can happen. It may be that a government has the ability to protect individuals, but if it does not, for example because there is no money for it, people move away and migration occurs.'
ERC Synergy Grant
The Synergy Grants are the largest grants (€10 million) awarded by the ERC. They are designed to support pioneering research by a small group of two to four principal investigators. Together, they address ambitious research questions that cannot be tackled by the principal investigators and their teams alone. Synergy projects enable substantial advances at the frontiers of knowledge, for example through the cross-fertilisation of scientific fields, new productive lines of research, or new methods and techniques, such as unconventional approaches and investigations at the interface between established disciplines.