VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM (VUA)
The Institute for Environmental Studies at VU Amsterdam, established in 1971, has a long research track in the fields of Environmental and Earth Sciences. In particular, the section Water and Climate Risk (WCR) works in at the intersection of climatic changes, hydrology, natural hazards and socio-economic impacts. Within WCR, the Climate Extremes & Societal Risk research group, led by Prof Coumou and consisting of ~15 climate scientists, has in-depth expertise on extreme weather events like heat waves, heavy rainfall, storms, hurricanes and droughts, and the role of climate change on such extremes. The Climate Extremes team pioneered the use of artificial intelligence (AI) methods to gain new insights into the underlying physics and to improve predictability of extremes. In particular, the group has strong expertise in studying the dynamics, teleconnections and causal chains behind the occurrence of the impacts of climate extremes.