Maarten van Aalst

Maarten van Aalst is the Director General and Chief Science Officer at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) since February 2023, and a Professor of Climate and Disaster Resilience at the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente since 2019. As Coordinating Lead Author for the IPCC Working Group II, Maarten focuses on impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability, primarily addressing key risks in various sectors and regions. Maarten serves as a member of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change since March 2022 and has been a Trustee at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) since November 2021. Previous positions include adjoint Senior Research Scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Director at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, and honorary Senior Lecturer at the UCL Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy. Maarten holds a PhD in Climate Research from Universiteit Utrecht and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, as well as an MSc in Astrophysics from Utrecht University.