The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded Vidi grants of up to €850,000 to 149 promising researchers. These grants allow talented scientists to start their own line of research and further develop their talent. Among the recipients are Maria Pregnolato and Davide Wüthrich, both hydrologists and flood management experts affiliated with the Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness Center (PDPC). Maria is a member of the PDPC research project Frontrunner 3: Pandemic lessons for flood disaster preparedness and, together with Davide, co-leads the PDPC modelling project OPTICAL, which aims to strengthen flood mitigation and management through improved development of temporary inundation areas, flood barriers, and other infrastructures that can be deployed in response to extreme weather events.

With her Vidi grant, Maria will develop a new approach to mitigate the impact of floodings on existing infrastructure. Using a recent technology called Digital Twins (DTs), she can establish a connection between real-world critical infrastructure and its virtual representation. This connection can be employed to integrate valuable data from e.g. sensors at infrastructure assets with various analytical models, to anticipate consequences of flood events and plan interventions pre-emptively under future conditions. “Thanks to the digital twin approach, we can benefit from the speed of machine learning and the accuracy of physical science,” she explains.

Davide will investigate the impact of air and air-water mixtures on critical infrastructure during extreme events like floods, storm surges, and tsunamis. Through innovative small- and large-scale experiments and numerical simulations, this project will be of great value in designing safe buildings in regions frequently affected by water-related disasters, leading to safer structures that can save lives and reduce reconstruction costs.

PDPC congratulates Maria and Davide on this well-deserved honor! Read more about the 2024 Vidi grants here.