معرفی
Cornelis van Westen is a Full Professor of Multi-Hazard Risk Dynamics at the Department of Earth Systems Analysis, University of Twente (ITC), Netherlands. He holds a dual appointment at the Digital Society Institute. Previously, he served as Director of the United Nations University - ITC Centre for Geoinformation in Disaster Risk Management (2005–2015). His expertise spans disaster risk management, landslide and volcanic hazard assessment, and climate change impact analysis using GIS and remote sensing.
Education:
- MSc in Physical Geography, University of Amsterdam (1988)
- PhD in Engineering Geology, Delft University of Technology (1993)
Research Focus: Developing methods for multi-hazard risk analysis, including abrupt (e.g., earthquakes) and gradual (climate/land-use changes) risks. Notable projects include the SafeLand EU project for landslide risk tools and CHARIM for Caribbean hazard mapping.
Publications Trends: Recent work emphasizes landslide modeling in Colombia, post-seismic stability in China, and functional regression for hydro-meteorological hazards. His articles bridge GIS applications, climate adaptation, and decision support systems.
Awards:
- ITC Research Award (1993)
- Richard Wolters Prize (IAEG, 1996)
Advising & Grants: Supervised over 85 MSc and numerous PhD students. Key partnerships include projects in India (GITHRA), Vietnam (Multi-Hazard Risk Assessment), and Tajikistan (UNDP). Active in training programs like the GI4DRM course with UNOSAT and ADPC.
Labs/Teams: Leads ITC’s Natural Hazards and Disaster Risk Management research. Collaborates with global institutions like the Chengdu University of Technology (China) and ICIMOD (Nepal).
