Professor of Global Water Risk Dynamics & Senior Climate Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management Specialist

Philip Ward is Full Professor of Global Water Risk Dynamics at the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Senior Climate Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management Specialist at Deltares. At IVM he is Head of the Water and Climate Risk Department, a group of ~80 international researchers working on disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, and climate extremes. His current research focuses on multi-hazard risk assessment and management. He is the coordinator of the Horizon 2020 project, MYRIAD-EU, in which methods, tools, and approaches are being co-developed for designing forward-looking disaster risk management pathways that assess disaster risk and climate adaptation options across different hazards, regions, and (temporal and spatial) scales. His research fuses high-level scientific impact with key societal questions, and searches for solutions to global environmental challenges. He was awarded the European Geosciences Union Plinius Medal, for his outstanding contribution to natural hazards research.