On March 19 Alvaro Moreno will defend his PhD thesis titled: Climate Change and Tourism – Impacts and Vulnerability in Coastal Europe. The main research question underlying this thesis asks in what different ways climate change will affect Europe’s tourism in coastal and marine environments and how the vulnerability of the sector can be assessed. Using a combination of methodologies, this research contributes to gain a better understanding of climate change impacts on coastal and marine tourism and to provide stakeholders with the tools to assess and reduce the vulnerability of the sector.

As of February 2010 Dr. Harro van Lente will be appointed at ICIS as Extraordinary Professor Philosophy of Sustainable Development from a Humanistic Perspective. Harro van Lente is also Associate Professor of 'Emerging Technologies' at the Department of Innovation and Environmental Studies, University of Utrecht. The Socrates Foundation funds the professorship.

Prof. Pim Martens has been appointed as member of the Dutch Health Council. He will take part in the Health and Environment Group, which focuses on the relation between public health and environmental factors. The Health Council provides advise to the ministers, the state secretaries, and the States General.

ICIS has acquired two post-doc grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Foundation Knowledge for Climate. One project will focus on sustainable river management, the other project on the (im)possibilities of connecting research and policy for sustainable development and global change. Both research proposals were developed in cooperation with Utrecht University.

In response to the ongoing discussion about the reliability of the IPCC and the climate reports, a group of 55 leading Dutch scientists working in the field of climate change, energy and the environment has written an open letter. Staff at ICIS generally supports the Open Letter. For more information, click here.