Prof. Dr. Michelle van Vliet obtained her MSc in Physical Geography from Utrecht University (2006, with distinction) and holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences from Wageningen University (December 2012, with distinction (top 2-3%)). Her PhD thesis entitled ‘Global rivers warming up: impacts on cooling water use in the energy sector and freshwater ecosystems’ received the SENSE Award for Best PhD Thesis in Environmental Sciences in 2013.

After her PhD, she received a personal Niels Stensen Fellowship and studied how present and future water constraints may impact global energy security at IIASA (Austria) and Princeton University (USA) (2014-2015). This resulted in several high-profile publications as lead author which were widely covered by the media. She was awarded a VENI grant from the Dutch Research Council for her research project “Quality matters: Including water quality in global water stress projections” (2015-2019). As part of this VENI project, which was carried out at Wageningen University, she has developed a concept and an indicator of water scarcity which includes water quality. In the face of this new concept, she initiated and led sessions at leading international conferences, and was invited as a leading expert by the World Bank and the European Commission. In addition, she was affiliated as a collaborative research scholar to IIASA (2013-2018).

She joined the Department of Physical Geography of Utrecht University in July 2019. Michelle was awarded a VIDI personal grant of the Dutch Research Council to analyze the drivers of water scarcity during present and future droughts and heatwaves worldwide, by quantifying the interactions between water quality, sectoral water use and water availability (2021-2026). She received an ERC Starting Grant to focus with her team on the main question “How can we balance clean water and energy provision in our changing world with increasing droughts and heatwaves?” 

In July 2024 Michelle van Vliet was appointed Professor of Water Quality and Sustainable Water Systems. She has supervised 12 PhD students, 5 postdocs and >60 MSc thesis students. She is an author of more than 90 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including high-profile journals such as Nature,  Nature Water, Nature Climate Change, Nature Geoscience and Nature Energy. She was also a contributing author of the latest IPCC AR6 report WGII.

Michelle has been a member of the Utrecht Young Academy, a bridge between young and talented researchers, since 2021.