معرفی
Lesley De Cruz is a Research Fellow at Vrije Universiteit Brussel's Electronics and Informatics department within the School of Electronics and Computer Science, with concurrent research affiliation at the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium since 2012. Current projects include climate-resilient urban modeling through BRGEOZ464 and flood prediction systems under FWOAL1127.
Research focuses on AI-driven climate modeling with expertise in nonlinear dimension reduction (DIRESA framework), urban climate resilience, and renewable energy meteorology. Key methodologies integrate deep learning with environmental physics for applications including
- real-time flood prediction
- offshore wind farm optimization
- LEGO-based urban climate prototyping
- regional climate downscaling
Recent publications (2023-2025) demonstrate strong trends in geospatial AI for environmental systems, with 64% focusing on climate change impact analysis, 54% on urban applications, and 51% on control measure development. The DIRESA framework represents a significant contribution to nonlinear dimension reduction in climate informatics.
Awards include:
- Matìère Grise Science Communication Trophy (2024)
- Major media recognition for breakthrough rainfall prediction model (2021)
Supervises multiple PhD candidates and leads public engagement initiatives including CurieuCity and Dag Van de Wetenschap. Current grants total 12 active projects (2021-2029) with €2.8M+ funding, primarily focused on climate adaptation and sustainable technology development.
Labs and teams include the Climate Informatics Group at VUB and collaborative networks with Ghent University and the Flemish Institute for Carbon-Aware Technologies.
