New Professor Albert Klein Tank named Scientific Director of Delta Climate Center
More than 500 million people around the world live in river deltas. But today, their quality of life is threatened by sea level rise and deterioration of ecosystems. So how can we create climate-resilient and prosperous deltas? The Delta Climate Center aims to answer that question. As of 1 January 2024, Professor Albert Klein Tank will begin work as the Scientific Director of the Delta Climate Center, and as Professor of Sustainable Transitions for River Deltas in a Changing Climate at Utrecht University.
The Delta Climate Center in Vlissingen conducts research and offers education related to water and energy management and new forms of food production. The center is currently developing a sequential learning track for senior secondary vocational education, higher professional education and university students. Research at the center focuses on the issues of water, energy, food, and biological resources. The Delta Climate Center also encourages business development and startups in the water, food, and energy sectors.
Albert Klein Tank: “After six years working in the United Kingdom, I look forward to joining Business Director Joyce ten Holter in leading the new climate center in Zeeland, created by Utrecht University, Wageningen University & Research, HZ/University of Applied Sciences, Scalda, University College Roosevelt and the NIOZ. We aim to build on these founders’ work and that of many other partners in the region. Our emphasis will lie on the integrated trans-disciplinary approach needed to find innovative solutions and take advantage of opportunities for a sustainable future.”
“I especially appreciate how the Delta Climate Center brings parties together, in areas from climate change to the specific regional challenges that Zeeland faces, and at every level of tertiary education. It’s a fantastic opportunity for our researchers and our students to work together on these major challenges in Zeeland, and then to seem their solutions applied in the region. That makes it less abstract, and extremely tangible”, explains Wilco Hazeleger, Dean van the Faculty of Geosciences.
Klein Tank currently serves as Director of the Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Science and Services, and is a Professor at the University of Bristol. Before that, he worked at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI). Over his career, he has earned an international reputation through is work in analysing climate trends and producing national climate scenarios. As a professor at the Faculty of Geosciences, Albert will focus on the relationships between water management, food safety and energy security under changing and extreme weather and climate conditions. He will have a special focus on sustainable transitions for river deltas, from the perspective of climate mitigation and adaptation.