About Mick van der Wegen
Mick van der Wegen is dedicated to enabling Delta Life by enhancing knowledge on the morphodynamic behavior of estuarine systems and their resilience to anticipated climate change and sea level rise. Blessed with an extensive (inter)national network, a continuous flow of scientific publications and a strong education track record Mick highly values working in open minded and multidisciplinary teams on landscape adaptation solutions serving sustainable and happy coastal communities worldwide. Examples include modelling of estuarine morphodynamics and hydrodynamics at various spatial scales, including entire tidal basins, channel-shoal interactions, dredging strategies, mudflats and vegetation dynamics at salt marshes and mangroves belts as well as the development of managed realignment schemes. Over the past decades Mick has been travelling the world working on case studies in San Francisco Bay (USA), the Western Scheldt (Netherlands), the Mekong Delta (Vietnam), the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta (Bangladesh) and mangrove-mud coasts in Guyana and Indonesia. “All case studies have site specific conditions, but the climate change impact is remarkably similar; the morphodynamic systems react with inertia to sea level rise so that valuable intertidal area is lost”. Mick has been early adapter of Delft3D FM software and developer of Matlab/Python-based modeling tools for quick assessments of climate change impact in estuaries. Societal impact activities include membership of Commissie MER (www.commissiemer.nl), review work for international, peer-reviewed journals and foreign research organisations (FWO, DNRF), NCK programme committee membership (Netherlands Centre for Coastal Research), NWO PhD guidance committees, regular press coverage, and advisory work, often in close co-operation with renowned institutes like TU Delft, RWS, USGS and the World Bank. Mick combines his position at Deltares with an Associate Professorship at IHE Delft.
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