European Geosciences Union
Division on Natural Hazards
President: Ira Didenkulova
(nh@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Paolo Tarolli
(paolo.tarolli@unipd.it)
The Natural Hazards (NH) Division of the EGU covers all the geological and geophysical processes that can be hazardous and can produce damage to the environment and to the society. Therefore it is a place where scientists and researchers of various geo-disciplines meet with sociologists, economists and people responsible for territorial and urban defense and planning policies. The aim is to improve the understanding of the evolution of the processes and to discuss new technologies, methods and strategies to mitigate their disastrous effects. The Division is structured in nine Subdivisions covering specific hazards. Of these seven are listed here: hydro-meteorological, volcanic, landslide, earthquake-, sea and ocean, remote sensing and hazards, wildfire hazards. The eighth Subdivision covers biological and environmental hazards and in addition hazards not included in the previous ones. The ninth (natural hazards and society) focuses on the social aspects of the hazards, including development sustainability, emergency, warning, after-disaster resilience, etc. Most of the topics that are treated in the NH Division are also treated in other EGU Divisions, which is expected due to the intrinsic transversal nature of the NH Division. For example, earthquakes are the main interest of the Seismology Division, but they are also of interest here where the chief topics are, among others, how to evaluate vulnerability and risk, how to reduce the impact on human lives and society, how geo-scientists can contribute to a prompt recovery of a community affected by disasters.
The NH Division is one the historical Divisions of the EGU that was established since when EGU was founded and has been and is one of the largest divisions to which many geo-scientists provide steadily contributions of papers and ideas over the years.
As for all EGU Divisions, an Early Career Scientist Award is established also for the NH Division and is given to young researchers who obtain outstanding results in the assessment and mitigation of natural hazard adopting a multidisciplinary approach. In addition, the NH Division awards the Plinius Medal devoted since 2012 to mid-career researchers and the Soloviev Medal for scientists who give outstanding contributions in fundamental aspects of research on natural hazards.
The 2022 Sergey Soloviev Medal is awarded to Anne Mangeney for unique contributions to the understanding of geohazards by integrating novel modelling approaches with field and laboratory observations, and the transfer of knowledge towards risk assessment.
The 2022 Plinius Medal is awarded to Slobodan Nickovic for pioneering work on modelling sand and dust storms and for significant contributions to the development of a global dust advisory and warning system.
The 2022 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists is awarded to Jakob Zscheischler for fundamental work of an international standing, defining and developing models for the identification and risk assessment of compound and inter-related hazards, in a changing climate.
The 2021 Sergey Soloviev Medal is awarded to Fausto Guzzetti for his fundamental contributions to the field of natural hazards and his remarkable efforts to link the scientific community and civil protection authorities to mitigate risk for exposed populations.
The 2021 Plinius Medal is awarded to Giuliano Di Baldassarre for outstanding research on the interplay between hydrological hazards and society, and significant contributions to the development of policy for the mitigation of floods and droughts.
The 2021 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award is awarded to Maria Pregnolato for her outstanding research in the field of flood impacts, flood risk assessment, and infrastructure resilience.
The 2021 Virtual Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (vOSPP) Award is awarded to Bixen Telletxea Identification and characterization of rockfalls using seismic signals, LiDAR, and imagery. Advances on real-time detection
The 2021 Virtual Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (vOSPP) Award is awarded to Dion Häfner Real-World Rogue Wave Probabilities
The 2021 Virtual Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (vOSPP) Award is awarded to Janneke van Ginkel An approach to construct a Netherlands-wide ground-motion amplification model
The 2021 Virtual Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (vOSPP) Award is awarded to Matthew Hayward Numerical simulations of tsunami generation in caldera lakes by subaqueous explosive volcanism
With the EGU General Assembly just around the corner, it’s time to pay special attention to how present your research, ideas, and messages to leave the best impression on a broad scientific community. However, it’s not always easy to stand out from the crowd at such big events and get people to notice you and remember your work. In the webinar organised by the ECS group of the EGU Natural Hazards (NH) Division earlier this month, two former EGU award-winning …
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Despite many efforts around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in Science,Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), a noticeable disparity in geosciences still exists. To understand the root cause and steps we can take forward, it was my privilege to talk with Dr Kuheli Dutt, Assistant Dean for DEI at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Before MIT, Dr Dutt was an Assistant Director of Academic Affairs and Diversity at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University. Dr Dutt has published numerous research articles …
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In the April issue of The Loupe, Earth day is in the spotlight amidst the looming climate change crisis. Find out how EGU and fourteen other geoscience organisations around the world have committed to create a just and sustainable future for the planet. As EGU’s Early Career Scientist (ECS) Representative, Anita Di Chiara explains how ECS can get more involved in EGU and the scientific community.
A few weeks to go for EGU22, which takes place from 23-27 May 2022! Registration for on-site participation has now closed, however you can still register to join us virtually till 27 May 2022.
This issue also highlights some of the key science for policy sessions at EGU22, and includes the latest Journal Watch and GeoRoundup of April EGU journal highlights.