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The Netherlands:

A Center of Excellence for

Geophysics and Ocean Sciences

Bert Jagers

Netherlands

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The safest place below mean sea level.

Safety doesn’t mean there isn’t a risk …

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It’s important to learn from such

events. Not just locally, but

nationally, or even worldwide.

Share experiences, expertise, and

be open for innovation

Storm surge barriers

Building with Nature

Strength through collaboration (1)

Delft University (civil engineering & geology)

Deltares (water, subsurface & infrastructure)

MARIN (maritime research)

NIOO (ecology)

NIOZ (sea research)

TNO (geological survey)

UNESCO-IHE (water education)

University of Twente including

• ITC (geo-information & earth observation)

Utrecht University (marine sciences, earth sciences)

Wageningen UR including

• IMARES (marine ecology) and

• Alterra (green environment)

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Strength through collaboration (2)

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Not just amongst academia and research institutes

but also with Dutch consultants like

… and this all leads of course, based on a good

Dutch tradition, to strong international

collaboration in Europe and the rest of

the world.

Examples from Deltares

• Deltares is an independent institute for applied research in the field of water,

subsurface and infrastructure with its base office in The Netherlands.

• Throughout the world, Deltares works on smart solutions, innovations, and

applications for people, environment, and society.

• Combining expertise with unique experimental facilities and state-of-the-art

software

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Deltares

• Deltares is an independent institute for applied research in the field of water,

subsurface and infrastructure with its base office in The Netherlands.

• Throughout the world, Deltares works on smart solutions, innovations, and

applications for people, environment, and society.

• Combining expertise with unique experimental facilities and state-of-the-art

software

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http://oss.deltares.nl

http://www.deltaressystems.nl

Open source software stimulates collaboration

Building bridges

across disciplines Technological innovation

Improves insight

Guides the

solution process

Raises awareness

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International collaboration

• Deltares works closely with governments, businesses,

other research institutes and universities at home

and abroad to help manage densely populated

and vulnerable areas.

• In the context of about

50 European FP6 and

FP7 projects we have

worked together with

over 500 partners.

• Example projects led

by Deltares include:

• DEWFORA (Droughts in Africa)

• eartH2Observe (Global observations for

integrated water resource assessment)

• RISC-KIT (Resilience increasing strategies for coasts)

From European project to global service

In the European Flood Forecasting System project (1999-2003), a first

prototype of a European flood forecasting system was designed and

constructed. Over the past decade, Deltares has further developed

and reimplemented this system to an open, flexible Forecasting and

Early Warning System called Delft-FEWS.

It’s the basis of numerous operational systems worldwide, including

the US NWS Community Hydrologic Prediction System.

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http://oss.deltares.nl/web/delft-fews/

From European project to global service

In the HarmonIT project (2001-2005), a first version of OpenMI was

developed. OpenMI is an open model interface to standardize the in-

memory exchange of data between simulation components at

runtime. This led to the formation of the OpenMI association to

guarantee independent maintenance and further development of the

standard.

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In the OpenMI-LIFE

project, the standard has

been extended further to

version 2.0. This version

is now in the process of

becoming a worldwide

standard via adoption by

the Open Geospatial

Consortium.

http://www.openmi.org

Collaboration aross the Atlantic: DRIHM2US

Based on the EGI and PRACE, in the DRIHM project, we are

developing a distributed research environment for innovation in

hydrometeorological forecasting with a focus on flash floods in

particular.

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The platform allows users to configure

and run workflows across heterogeneous

infrastructure in deterministic or

ensemble mode. Using the latest

hardware, researchers can add improve

their forecasts.

Within DRIHM2US (EU) and

SCIHM (NSF), we collaborate to

look for ways to make the EU and

US infrastructures (XSEDE)

interoperable.

Genoa (2011)

Boulder (2013) http://www.drihm.eu

http://www.drihm2us.eu

http://www.scihm.org

Final statements

• The Netherlands hosts a number of leading research institutes and

engineering firms operating in the fields of geophysics, ocean, and

environmental sciences.

• Together they form a research cluster unique in the world.

• Research and development is sped up by European projects.

• The Netherlands offers great working conditions, good social

security, and secondary benefits.

• Besides the European options presented centrally, you may check:

• NL funded visits: Young Expert Program (YEP Water)

• US funded visits: Deltares has hosted, mostly informally, a

number of Fulbright scholars

• Overview of open positions: academictransfer.nl

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http://www.yepwater.com

http://eca.state.gov/fulbright

http://academictransfer.nl