dr. MTH (Michelle) van Vliet

Michelle van Vliet is research collaborator with Water Systems and Global Change group of Wageningen University where she is involved in supervision of PhD students.

Since July 2019, she is assistant professor at the department of Physical Geography at Utrecht University (see UU-profile page). Her work focusses on global change impacts and adaptation in relation to water resources availability and water quality for sector water uses (irrigation, domestic, energy) and ecosystems.

She obtained her MSc in physical geography from Utrecht University (2006, with distinction) and holds a PhD in environmental sciences from Wageningen University (December 2012, with distinction (top 2-3%)). Her PhD thesis received the SENSE award for Best PhD thesis in environmental sciences. After her PhD, she received a personal Niels Stensen Fellowship and studied how present and future water constraints may impact global energy security at IIASA (Austria) and Princeton University (USA). She was awarded an NWO VENI grant for her research project ‘Quality Including water quality in global water stress projections’ (2015-2019), which was carried out at Wageningen University. In addition, she was affiliated as collaborative research scholar to IIASA (2013-2018). Michelle van Vliet is main supervisor (co-promotor) of four PhD students, three postdocs and has supervised more than 20 MSc thesis students. She has 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals including high-profile journals such as Nature Climate Change, Nature Communications, Nature Energy and Nature Geoscience.

Top 3

1. van Vliet, M.T.H., Flörke, M., Wada, Y. (2017) Quality matters for water scarcity, Nature Geoscience, 10, 800–802, doi:10.1038/ngeo3047

2. van Vliet, M.T.H., D. Wiberg, S. Leduc, K. Riahi (2016), Power-generation system vulnerability and adaptation to changes in climate and water resources, Nature Climate Change 6, 375-380, doi:10.1038/nclimate2903

3. van Vliet, M.T.H., J.R. Yearsley, F. Ludwig, S. Vögele, D. P. Lettenmaier, and P. Kabat (2012) Vulnerability of U.S. and European electricity supply to climate change, Nature Climate Change, 2(9), 676681, doi:10.1038/nclimate1546