The Water Engineering and Management Program (WEM) of the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, jointly with the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, successfully conducted a hybrid seminar on “Climate Risks in South and Southeast Asia: Challenges and Opportunities,” on 16th of June 2022.
Prof. Dieter Trau, Dean, School of Engineering and Technology, AIT, delivered the opening remarks by extending a warm welcome to all the seminar participants. Dr. Ho Huu Loc, Assistant Professor, WEM, AIT, welcomed all the participants and introduced the program agenda and the speakers. Furthermore, the first session also included a presentation on Nature-based Solutions (NBS), Ecosystem services (ES) and potential collaboration areas between EOS and WEM from Dr. Perrine Hamel, Assistant Professor at Asian School of Environment NTU Singapore and the Principal Investigator of EOS.
The seminar also consisted of presentations from researchers and Ph.D. candidates from both institutions. Dr. Dennis Wagenaar, Research Fellow, EOS, NTU Singapore and Ms. Alina Bill – Weilandt, Ph.D. student, NTU Singapore, presented on emphasizing the utilization of NBS and ES for flood reduction under climate change scenarios in South and Southeast Asia. Similarly, WEM Ph.D. candidates Mr. Saurav KC, Ms. Pragya Pradhan and Ms. Piyanuch Nontikansak shared their research works on the impacts of multiple drivers in South and Southeast Asia, followed by open discussions and Q&A sessions.
Dr. Ho Huu Loc, in his closing remarks, extended sincere thanks to all the presenters and the participants for providing valuable input. Furthermore, the researchers from NTU also visited the hydraulics laboratory at WEM, AIT, to take an idea of various ongoing hydropower projects of Lao PDR and Myanmar and hydraulic models developed by students in WEM’s laboratory.
