Senior researcher in water and food security, London School of Economics and Political Science
Christian is an adaptation and water resources expert with 20 years of experience in conducting research and consultancy on climate and water risks. He grew up in the Netherlands and, after four years in the UK, is now living in Sydney, Australia. He is especially interested in the value of water, the link between climate variability, risk, resilience and decision making, and the concept of ‘digital twins’. Christian’s ambition is to make a science-based contribution to societal challenges linked to the water-energy-food-environment nexus. To do so, he can draw from years of experience in conducting pilot research, working with big data and remote sensing, applying hydrological and hydro-economic models, and interacting with stakeholders.
Christian has a Master's and engineering degree in agriculture and integrated water management and a combined PhD in environmental economics and earth system sciences, both from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. He is the founder of Uncharted Waters ltd, a climate-tech start-up in Sydney, that is building a digital twin of the global water and food system. Previously he worked at Wageningen Environmental Research, from 2004 to 2019, and for the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics in London, from 2016 to 2020. He is still a visiting senior research fellow at both.