Rick Heikoop

Rick Heikoop is a Researcher in the Water Management department at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, focusing on climate-adaptive urban design with emphasis on urban heat mitigation and sustainable city planning.

His academic background includes:

• Bachelor's degree in International Land and Water Management from Larenstein University of Applied Sciences
• Master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of the Philippines
• Master's degree in Management of the European Metropolitan Region from Erasmus University Rotterdam

His research centers on designing cities with cool spaces to maintain livability during extreme heat, addressing urban heat island effects through climate-adaptive solutions. He investigates equitable access to cooling infrastructure for vulnerable populations while integrating water management systems into urban resilience planning. His work bridges practical engineering applications with social dimensions of urban climate adaptation.

Through international collaborations with universities in Poland, the Philippines, Cape Verde, Egypt, and Indonesia, he develops cross-cultural approaches to urban climate challenges. His ClimateCafé initiative creates student-driven research platforms where Rotterdam and local students jointly conduct field measurements and co-design context-specific cooling solutions.

No scientific awards or honors were mentioned in the provided text.

Rick Heikoop advises student research through ClimateCafés but no specific graduate students are listed. His international projects likely involve grant funding, though exact grants aren't specified. He maintains strong field-oriented research partnerships with NGOs focused on urban poor communities, continuing his early career work on water access advocacy.

He operates within the Engineering and Technology Institute (EMI) research ecosystem, leading the Water Management group's urban climate adaptation efforts. His ClimateCafés function as mobile research laboratories where students deploy temperature sensors, analyze microclimate data, and prototype cooling interventions in diverse urban neighborhoods across multiple continents.