Nele Reyniers

Nele Reyniers

Profile

At the end of secondary education my broad scientific interest, combined with a growing concern for climate change and other human impacts on the environment, led me to choose to study bioengineering for my Bachelor’s degree.

My Master’s degree on Land and Water management then focussed on hydraulic, hydrological and soil processes, their places in the climate system and how land and water resources can be (mis-)managed. To complement this, I chose to focus my elective courses on my growing passion for modelling and data science. Finally, my Master’s thesis on the impact of the resolution of regional climate models on the simulation of evaporation introduced me to the world of climate modelling.

Between graduating in Ghent and starting my PhD here at UEA, I spent one year at ESA’s Climate Office as a Young Graduate Trainee, where I worked on water surface detection from SAR imagery, as well as providing support in Climate Office activities.

Towards the future, I would like to continue directing my attention to (modelling) hydrological consequences of climate change, and eventually apply my knowledge to support developing communities in achieving their sustainable development goals.

Nele Reyniers

Agri-environments and Water

University of East Anglia, School of Environmental Sciences

PhD title: Drought risk and its management in a changing climate: A partnership with Anglian Water

Climate change is already impacting water supply all over the world, and this is expected to be felt even more strongly in upcoming years. Since East Anglia is one of the driest regions in the UK, future intensity, frequency and duration of droughts are a major concern for water managers and companies.

As a water company of this dry region, Anglian Water is developing new methods for drought risk management. I will be collaborating closely with them throughout my PhD to help them understand expected future drought risks and work on how to reduce these.

I will be combining climate projections and hydrological models to investigate future characteristics of droughts, as well as looking at past UK droughts. For this, I will make use of modular frameworks, which allow to gain insight into how the choice of a particular model structure impacts its predictions.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7796-2791