CV
Wim THIERY
Climate scientist
°Ukkel, 16 January 1987
Married, father of Loïc (°2014), Leon (°2015) and Gaspard (°2019)
Pleinlaan 2
1050 Brussels, Belgium
wim.thiery@vub.be
+32 485 70 80 18
Wim Thiery is a climate scientist focused on the modelling of extreme events in a changing climate. After obtaining MScs at KU Leuven in Philosophy (2008) and Terrestrial Ecosystems and Global Change (2011), he was an FWO PhD fellow investigating the interaction between climate and the African Great Lakes with a regional climate model (2011–2015). From 2015 to 2018, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at ETH Zurich, where he investigated the historical and future impacts of irrigation on climate extremes at the global scale. In 2017 (age 29), he was appointed as research professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where he established the BCLIMATE Group. During his research, he undertook research exchanges to Montréal, Berlin, and Zurich, and conducted three field campaigns to Uganda, Rwanda, and DR Congo to install automatic weather stations on Lake Kivu and Lake Victoria. Thiery is contributing author of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land (2019) and the Sixth Assessment Report (2021). His expertise includes climate change, climate extremes, regional and global climate modelling, land-atmosphere interactions, land management, storm early warnings, energy meteorology, and global-scale climate impact modelling. In 2017, Forbes magazine elected him as a member of the “Forbes 30 under 30 Europe”, bringing together “the brightest young entrepreneurs, innovators and game changers in Europe”. In 2023, he receives one of the Arne Richter Awards for Outstanding Early Career Scientists from the European Geosciences Union.
Education
2011 – 2015 PhD in CLIMATE SCIENCE - FWO Research fellow
KU Leuven
“Present and future impact of the African Great Lakes on the regional climate.”
2009 – 2011 Master in GEOGRAPHY - Terrestrial Ecosystems and Global Change
Leuven & Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Summa cum laude (89 %, first in class)
“Modelling surface and snowdrift sublimation at the Antarctic station Princess Elisabeth.”
2008 – 2009 Preparatory programme Master in GEOGRAPHY
KU Leuven
Magna cum laude (83 %, first in class)
2007 – 2008 Master in PHILOSOPHY
KU Leuven
Magna cum laude (82 %)
“Ecophenomenology – Looking for a Merleau-Pontian environmental philosophy.”
2006 – 2007 1st Bachelor in GEOGRAPHY
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Summa cum laude (86 %, first in class)
2004 – 2007 Bachelor in PHILOSOPHY
KUBrussel
Summa cum laude (85 %, first in class)
Research experience
2022 – pres. Associate Professor
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Department of Hydrology and Hydraulic Engineering
2017 – 2021. Research Professor (tenure track)
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Department of Hydrology and Hydraulic Engineering
2017 – pres. Guest Professor
KU Leuven, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
2015 – 2018 ETH Postdoctoral Fellow – “Impact of irrigation on climate extremes”
ETH Zurich, Land-climate dynamics group (Prof. Sonia Seneviratne)
2011 – 2015 FWO PhD Fellow
KU Leuven, Regional climate studies group (Prof. Nicole van Lipzig)
Awards & recognition
2023 Arne Richter Awards for Outstanding Early Career Scientists, awarded by the EGU.
2022 Excellent Supervisor Award, awarded by VUB’s Doctoral School of Natural Sciences & Engineering
The climate papers most featured in the media in 2021: 13th place for Thiery et al. (2021).
2021 Nature Research Highlight: Climate change means thin ice for lakes worldwide.
Nature Research Highlight: No child’s play: what climate change will inflict on today’s newborns.
Nature Climate Change Research Highlight: Feeling the heat.
The Lancet planetary Health Research Digest: Intergenerational climate equity.
The economist daily chart: lifetime heatwave event exposure.
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research: Largest contributor to ISIMIP2b.
2019 Wiley’s Top Cited Article award for Thiery et al. (2017, J. Geophys. Res. – Atmos.).
2018 EGU Highlight Article award for Vanderkelen et al. (2018a, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.).
EGU Highlight Article award for Vanderkelen et al. (2018b, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.).
2017 Member of the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe Class of 2017.
Full-time research professorship at age 29.
2016 NASA image of the day: Mapping storm patterns on Lake Victoria.
2015 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH): ETH Zurich Postdoctoral Fellowship.
KU Leuven: Prijs wetenschap en Innovatie - Eervolle vermelding.
2014 Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO): Travel grant for research exchange to ETH Zurich.
2011 Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO): PhD Fellowship.
Skills
Languages:
- Dutch: mother tongue
- English: excellent (C1)
- French: excellent
- German: basic
Software:
- Programming languages: Matlab, cdo, bash, fortran, R
- Office applications: LaTeX
- Operating systems: Linux, Windows
Project and field work management:
- Work package coordinator in two European research projects (CIREG and LAMACLIMA)
- Organisation of TROPISMEX field campaign on Lake Victoria, Uganda (January 2018)
- Coordination of P7 contribution (Climate) to the BELSPO project EAGLES (www.eagles-kivu.be)
- Co-organisation of EAGLES field campaign on Lake Kivu, Rwanda & DR Congo (September 2012)
- Assistance in EAGLES field campaign on Lake Kivu, Rwanda & DR Congo (February 2012)
Contributions to research proposals, meetings and reviews
Research proposals (funded, only financial support for the PI is listed):
- Horizon Europe research project: “SOcioeconomic Climate Risks, Adaptation and Transformation of European Society (SOCRATES)” [2023-2027; partner; 347’100 EUR].
- MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship Amen Al-Yaari: “AFRIHEAT: Uncovering the structure, dynamics and impacts of humid HEATwaves across AFRIca under present and future climate” [2023-2025; promotor; 191’760 EUR].
- FWO PhD Fellowship Seppe Lampe: “Detection and attribution of changes in global wildfire activity to anthropogenic drivers using machine learning” [2022-2026; promotor; 200’000 EUR].
- FWO PhD Fellowship Derrick Muheki: “A drying Congo basin? Detection and attribution of the hydroclimatic trends in the Congo basin to anthropogenic activities” [2022-2026; promotor; 200’000 EUR].
- Flemish Supercomputing Center (VSC) collaborative Grant “Storage4climate 2.0” [2022-2025; coordinator; 3.5 PB storage and 2.22 E 7 core hours for whole consortium].
- Save the Children project “Children’s exposure to climate extremes” [2022; promotor, 5’000 EUR].
- BELSPO research project: “GEOmorphic hazards and compound events in a changing TROPical East Africa (GEOTROP)” [2022-2026; partner; 43’781 EUR].
- Eutopia PhD Fellowship Rosa Pietroiusti: “Youth-led climate litigation” [2022-2026; promotor; 200’000 EUR].
- Copernicus research project: “Quality Assurance for Datasets in the Climate Data Store (C3S2_520)” [2022-2025; partner; 228’000 EUR].
- G-STIC Climate Action Programme “Extracting energy from rivers and lakes in a sustainable way” [2022-2023; partner; 25’000 EUR].
- Innoviris STEM for Science Project “Clim@school” [2021-2022; co-promotor].
- Flemish Supercomputing Center (VSC) collaborative Grant “Storage4climate 1.0” [2021-2022; coordinator; 1.4 PB storage and 1.84 E 7 core hours for whole consortium].
- COST Action “Process-based models for climate impact attribution across sectors (PROCLIAS)” [2020-2024; Work package co-leader].
- VUB European bonus for MSCA ITN InventWater [2020; partner; 50’000 EUR].
- MSCA ITN 2020 research project “Inventive forecasting tools for adapting water quality management to a new climate (InventWater)” [2021-2025; partner; 266’000 EUR].
- GIZ project “Conseil pour la révision de la partie énergie du CIV NDC” [2020; promotor, 30’409 EUR].
- CREG project “Cold spells in Belgium under near-term climate change” [2020; PI, 22’500 EUR].
- COST Action “Understanding and modeling compound climate and weather events (DAMOCLES)” [2018-2022; Core group member].
- JPI Climate (AXIS) 2019 research project: “Land Management for Climate Mitigation and Adaptation (LAMACLIMA)” [2019-2023; partner; 200’000 EUR].
- CSC PhD Fellowship Yi Yao: “Will increasingly efficient irrigation accelerate regional warming?” [2019-2023; promotor; ~60’000 EUR]
- FWO PhD Fellowship Inne Vanderkelen: “The impact of large dams on climate” [2018-2022; promotor; 180’000 EUR].
- VUB research grant Inne Vanderkelen: “Climate change impacts on the water balance of Lake Victoria” [2017-2018; promotor; 40’000 EUR].
- FWO HERCULES project: “A walk on the wild side of stable isotope biogeochemistry” [2018-2023; co-promoter]
- VUB Small Great Project: ‘Disaster risk reduction in Central Africa: Examples from landslides and storms’ [2018; co-PI; 10’000 EUR].
- VUB outgoing mobility grant Wim Thiery [2018; holder; 2’500 EUR].
- JPI Climate (ERA4CS) 2017 research project: “Climate information for integrated renewable electricity generation (CIREG)” [2017-2021; partner; 240’000 EUR].
- Copernicus research project: “Scientific Quality Assessment and Reports for ECVs (C3S_511b)” [2017-2021; partner; 75’000 EUR].
- VOCATIO Fellowship: “Climate change and extreme weather around Lake Victoria” [2017; PI; 10’000 EUR].
- KU Leuven 2017 research project: “How does urbanization affect climate extremes in the Greater Kampala region?” [co-supervisor of a PhD student].
- ETH 2015 Postdoctoral Fellowship: “Historical and future impact of irrigation on climate extremes” [2015-2018; holder; 225’700 CHF].
- BELSPO 2016 STEREO III project: “Remote sensing for Epidemiology in African Cities” [co-supervisor of a PhD student].
- BELSPO BRAIN-be project: “How do aerosols and clouds affect the East Antarctic climate?” [2015-2019; contributor].
- FNRS PhD Fellowship Elise Monsieurs: “Modelling regional rainfall controls on landslides in the tropics in the context of climate change” [2016-2020; contributor].
- FWO Travel grant for a long stay abroad Wim Thiery [2014; holder; 8’448 EUR].
- FWO PhD Fellowship: “The interaction between climate and the African Great Lakes: a study with a regional climate model” [2011-2015; holder; 160’000 EUR].
Session convening:
- EGU 2016–present: Land-atmosphere interactions and climate extremes (Vienna, AT, alternating convener and co-convener)
- GEWEX 2018: Advances in Irrigation Hydrology and Water Management: Measurements, Modeling, and Multi-Scale Impacts (Canmore, CA, co-convener)
- iEMSs 2020, 2022: Large-scale impact modelling including ISIMIP (Brussels, BE, main convener)
- ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting: Integrated modelling of lakes in the climate system (Granada, ES, 2015)
- Co-organisation of Disaster Risk Reduction workshop (Kampala, UG, 2018)
Community service
- Member of the Belgian delegation at the IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report approval session (Interlaken, 2023).
- Member of the CMIP7 Strategic Design ‘Impacts, Adaptation & Climate Services’ stakeholder group.
- Contributing author to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (2021; WG I chapter 11)
- Contributing author to the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land (2019; chapter 7)
- Co-coordinator of the ISIMIP Lake sector (2017-present)
- Member of the ISIMIP strategy group (2017-present)
- Work package co-leader for the COST Action PROCLIAS (2020-present)
- Science communication manager for the COST Action DAMOCLES (2018-present)
- Co-lead of the storage4climate collaborative project testing high-performance computing and storage services of the Flemish Supercomputing Center VSC (2019-present)
- Coordinator of the Special Issue ‘Modelling inland waters in a changing climate’ (GMD/ESD/TC, 2020-2021)
- Coordinator of the Special Issue ‘Modelling lakes in the climate system’ (GMD/HESS, 2018-2019)
- Associate member of the Belgian National Committee of Geodesy and Geophysics (2020-present)
- Editor for Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS, 2018)
- Reviewer for the IPCC Special report on 1.5°C and the Sixth Assessment Report
- Research project reviewer for ERC (CoG), NERC, SRC
- Reviewer for Science Advances, Geophysical Research Letters, Journal of Climate, Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres, Earth System Dynamics, Climate Dynamics, Climatic Change, Weather and Climate Extremes, International Journal of Climatology, Geoscientific Model Development, Global Change Biology, Tellus A, Monthly Weather Review, Earth System Science Data, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Water Resources Research, Frontiers Environmental Science, Hydrology, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Land Degradation and Development, Catena, Journal of Earth System Science.
Outreach
- Overall, more than 850 appearances in national and international media since 2014 (see here for full overview), including live TV interviews on BBC News, Al Jazeera, Terzake, De Zevende Dag, Het Journaal and VTM Nieuws.
- Altmetric: High Attention Score for Thiery et al., 2021 compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile) as well as same age and source (99th percentile). Study was covered in 373 news stories and is the 13th most covered climate paper from 2021.
- Initiator and lead scientists of the website https://myclimatefuture.info
- TEDx talk: ‘The Kids aren’t alright’
- Universiteit Van Vlaanderen: ‘Moeten we ons voorbereiden op een nieuwe ijstijd?’
- Interview in ARTE documentary series “Minds of Europe: ETH Zurich”.
- Science Communication Manager of the COST Action DAMOCLES (2018-2022).
- Author of 11 press releases (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4) and 3 blog posts (e.g., “Lethal night-storm on Lake Victoria”, “Irrigation and climate”, “The kids aren’t alright”) since 2014.
- Initiated an open letter, signed by 350 scientists, calling for action at COP 21.
- Main responsible of report ‘Winter is Leaving’, which was presented at the Commission on Climate, Energy and Environment of the Belgian Federal Parliament (2020).
- High school textbook: author of climate change chapter (2013).
Contributions to teaching and student support
2017-2021:
- Lecturer of the course “Land-climate dynamics”
MSc in Geography, Applied Computer Science, Water Resources Engineering, Civil Engineering, Physical Land Resources (VUB, KU Leuven, ULB, UGent).
- Co-lecturer of the course “Surface water hydrology”
MSc in Water Resources Engineering (VUB).
- Guest lecturer of the course “Global change”
BSc in Geography, Biology, Physics, Chemistry (VUB).
2020-2021:
- Guest lecturer of the course “Decision support systems for sustainability”
MSc in Business engineering, Biology (VUB).
- Guest lecturer of the course “Climate Change Challenges”
Postgraduate energy and climate (UAntwerpen).
2019-2021:
- Guest lecturer of the course “Sustainability: An Interdisciplinary Approach”
BSc in Applied Economics, Chemistry; MSc in Business engineering¸ Biomedicine, Physical Land Resources, Biology (VUB, UGent).
- Co-lecturer of the course “Setting up a Research Project”
MSc in Water Resources Engineering (VUB, KU Leuven).
2017-2019:
- Guest lecturer of the “Bootcamp climate”
PhD students and sustainability professionals (VUB).
2016-2017:
- Lecturer of the course “Remote Sensing in Water Resources Engineering”
MSc in Water Resources Engineering (VUB).
- Group work supervision in Land-Climate Dynamics (coordinator Sonia Seneviratne)
MSc in Environmental Science, MSc in Earth Science (ETH Zurich).
2011-2015:
- Practicum sessions in “Atmospheric Modelling” (coordinator Nicole van Lipzig)
Advanced MSc in Earth Observation and MSc in Geography (KU Leuven & VUB).
- Practicum sessions and field work in “Fysische Geografie” (coordinator Gert Verstraeten)
BSc in Archaeology, Biology, Geography and Geology (KU Leuven).
2012-2015:
- Practicum sessions in “History and Epistemology of Geography” (coordinator Kris Kesteloot)
MSc in Geography (KU Leuven & VUB).
2013-2015:
- Co-lecturer of “History and Epistemology of Geography” (coordinator Kris Kesteloot)
MSc in Geography (KU Leuven & VUB).
2012-2013:
- Co-lecturer of “Weer- en klimaatkunde” (coordinator Nicole van Lipzig)
BSc in Bio-engineering, Biology, Geography, Geology (KU Leuven).
- Field work in River Geomorphology (coordinator Gerard Govers)
MSc in Geography (KU Leuven & VUB).
Student supervision:
- (Co-)promotor of 1 Postdoctoral researcher:
- Cristina Deidda (promotor, 2023-pres.)
- (Co-)promotor of 13 PhD students:
- Rosa Pietroiusti (promotor, 2022-pres., EUTOPIA Fellow)
- Derrick Muheki (promotor, 2022-pres., FWO aspirant)
- Seppe Lampe (promotor, 2021-pres. , FWO aspirant)
- Sabin Taranu (promotor, 2021-pres.)
- Axel Deijns (co-promotor, 2020-pres.)
- Steven De Hertog (promotor, 2019-pres.)
- Yi Yao (promotor, 2019-pres.)
- Luke Grant (promotor, 2019-pres.)
- Sebastian Sterl (promotor, 2018-2021, top 3% honours, KAOW PhD price)
- Inne Vanderkelen (promotor, 2017-2022, FWO aspirant, top 3% honours, CESM PhD award, Ernest Dubois Price)
- Jonas Van de Walle (co-promotor, 2017-2021)
- Oscar Brousse (co-promotor, 2016-2020)
- Celray James Chawanda (co-promotor, 2016-2021)
- (Co-)promotor or supervisor of 36 MSc thesis students: Max Buchner (ongoing), Mel Brehon (ongoing), Ni Li (ongoing), Vijay Raj Singh (ongoing), Eva Marcy (ongoing), Jiaru Chang (ongoing), Margo Cabuy (ongoing), Maria Calle (ongoing), Daphne Vaes (2021-2022), Derrick Muheki (2021-2022), Rosa Pietroiusti (2021-2022), Eleni Kritidou (2020-2021), Dieu Hoang (2020-2021), Elena Lopez (2020-2021), Emmanuel Nyenah (2020-2021), Felix Soetewey (2020-2021), Louise Busschaert (2020-2021), Lualawi Admasu (2020-2021), Patrick Lonla (ongoing), Sofia Andrade (2020-2021), Eunice Aysisi (2020-2021), David Lindao (2019-2020), Faluku Nakulopa (2019-2020), Irenee Munyejuru (2019-2020), Lolita Vinluan (2019-2020), Margaret Namagera (2019-2020), Svenja Wilfert (2019-2020), Aine Gormley (2018-2019), Luke Grant (2018-2019), Kevin Sterckx (2017-2018), Daniela Hernández (2017-2018), Dina Hänseler (2017-2018), Inne Vanderkelen (2016-2017), Auke Visser (2016-2017), Niels Souverijns (2014-2015), Stijn Bruggen (2014-2015).
- Supervisor of 2 BSc thesis students: Thomas Antheunis (2013-2014), Matthias Meynen (2011-2012).
Student and staff representation:
- Vrije Universiteit Brussel:
- VUB supercomputing user group (co-chair, 2019-pres.)
- Faculty ICT board, Faculty of Engineering (co-chair, 2019-pres.)
- HYDR departmental council (chair, 2017-pres.)
- HYDR ZAPraad (member, 2017-pres.)
- IUPWARE Steering Committee (member, 2017-pres.)
- IUPWARE Programme Committee (member, 2017-pres.)
- Faculty Council, Faculty of Engineering (member, 2019-pres.)
- MSc in Applied Computer Science Programme Committee (member, 2019-pres.)
- VUB Focus Group Open Science (substitute, 2020-pres.).
- KU Leuven: Faculty Doctoral Commission (2011-2015).
- KUBrussel: Student Counsel and Faculty Board (2004 - 2007)
Other experience
International exchanges:
- ETH Zurich, Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science (research visit; May-August 2014)
- IGB Berlin, Department of Ecohydrology (research visit; August 2013)
- UQAM Montréal, Centre for the study of climate on the regional scale (research visit; December 2011)
- ETH Zurich, Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science (Erasmus exchange; fall 2010)
Summer schools:
- CESM tutorial (Boulder, CO, 2015)
- International Swiss Climate Summer School (Grindelwald, CH, 2014 & 2015)
- FLAMES methodology and statistics (Leuven, BE, 2013)
- COSMO-CLM training course (Frankfurt, DE, 2012)
Training:
- ArcGIS training course (Zurich, CH, 2016)
- How to write a teaching portfolio (Zurich, CH, 2016)
- ERC grant writing (Zurich, CH, 2016)
- Leadership and conflict management (Zurich, CH, 2016)
- Media training (Leuven, BE, 2015)
Invited seminars:
- iEMSs conference keynote ‘The Kids are not alright’ (Brussels, BE, 2020)
- ETH Zurich Research seminar (Zürich, CH, 2020)
- LAMACLIMA Webinar (online, 2020)
- University of Leeds Research seminar (Leeds, UK, 2020)
- VUB Research seminar (Brussels, BE, 2018)
- ETH Zurich Research seminar (Zürich, CH, 2020)
- Météo&climat IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land outreach seminar (Paris, FR, 2019)
- WijZijnBeersel Outreach seminar (Beersel, BE, 2019)
- TU Delft Open seminar series in Geoscience & Remote Sensing (Delft, NL, 2019)
- VUB Climate marathon (Brussels, BE, 2019)
- HIPE project research seminar (Brussels, BE, 2018)
- VUB Sustainability Bootcamp (Brussels, BE, 2018)
- VUB Water seminar (Brussels, BE, 2018)
- ETH Zurich Research seminar (Zürich, CH, 2018)
- ETH Zurich Research seminar (Zürich, CH, 2018)
- Universiteit Utrecht Boussinesq lecture (Utrecht, NL, 2018)
- UC Louvain TECLIM Research seminar (Louvain-la-Neuve, BE, 2017)
- VUB Water seminar (Brussels, BE, 2017)
- KAOW Research seminar (Brussels, BE, 2017)
- ETH Zurich Research seminar (Zürich, CH, 2017)
- UHasselt Outreach seminar (Hasselt, BE, 2017)
- VUB Inaugural lecture (Brussels, BE, 2017)
- ETH Foundation Thanks Giving event (Zürich, CH, 2016).
- ETH Zurich Research seminar (Zürich, CH, 2016)
- ETH Zurich Research seminar (Zürich, CH, 2016)
- ETH Zurich Research seminar (Zürich, CH, 2015)
- UC Louvain water seminars (Louvain-la-Neuve, BE, 2014)
- KU Leuven Research seminar (Leuven, BE, 2014)
- ETH Zurich Research seminar (Zürich, CH, 2014)
- ETH Zurich Research seminar (Zürich, CH, 2014)
- UCologne Research seminar (Cologne, DE, 2014)
- KU Leuven Research seminar (Leuven, BE, 2012)
- KU Leuven Advanced Geography seminar (Leuven, BE, 2012)
- UQAM ESCER Centre seminars (Montreal, CA, 2011)
Youth movement Chiro Sjoen Linkebeek:
- first responsible (2007 – 2009)
- responsible (2004 – 2007)
- member (1996 – 2004)
22 years of Judo