Karin van der Wiel

Karin van der Wiel, The Netherlands, receives the EMS Young Scientist Award 2021. She was nominated with the publication: Meteorological conditions leading to extreme low variable renewable energy production and extreme high energy shortfall, 2019, K. van der Wiel, L.P. Stoop, B.R.H. van Zuijlen, R. Blackport, M.A. van den Broek, F.M. Selten, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 111, pp. 261-275, DOI:  10.1016/j.rser.2019.04.065.

Citation

Karin van der Wiel made an important contribution to understanding the meteorological and climatological impacts on the renewable energy transition, and for her constant outreach activities in climate science.

Van der Wiel’s recent research has focused on understanding (changing) climate extremes and how these impact society or natural systems. With different, often interdisciplinary, teams she has shown the importance of considering the internal variability in climate impact-oriented research. Other work concerns understanding climate variability atmospheric dynamics, and climate attribution.

Besides scientific research Van der Wiel is active in climate science communication, for example through popular science articles and blog posts. The YSA-award-winning publication was the basis of a co-developed free lesson plan for secondary school Geography students on ‘weather and energy’.

Short biography

Academic qualifications
PhD Environmental Science, July 2015, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
Thesis: Mechanisms for the existence of diagonal Southern Hemisphere convergence zones
MSc Meteorology and Air Quality, November 2011, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
BSc Soil, Water, Atmosphere, August 2009, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands

Employment
Oct 2019 – present, Scientist at Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt, Netherlands
Oct 2016 – Sep 2019: Postdoctoral scientist Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute
Oct 2015 – Sep 2016: Postdoctoral scientist at Princeton University and Visiting scientist at NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laborator, Princeton, NJ, U.S.A.

Awards and Fellowships
2019 | WMO Research Award for Young Scientists
2018 | AGU Editor’s Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for Water Resources Research
2017 | AGU James R. Holton Award
2013 | Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Fellowship, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
2012 | University of East Anglia, Faculty of Science, fully-funded PhD studentship