Climate Event 2024

On November 5, 2024 the UT Climate Centre organized the first Climate Event in the Technohal on the campus of the University of Twente. At this first edition of the Climate Event, 250+ researchers, industry professionals, policy makers and students who want to collaborate to address climate change connected and shared their visions and ideas. Join us at the next edition on 5 november 2025 and let’s work together to create a sustainable future for our planet!

Keynote speakers

We are proud that the keynote speakers at the Climate Event 2024 were Derk Loorbach, director of DRIFT and Professor of Socio-economic Transitions at the Faculty of Social Science at Erasmus University Rotterdam, and Valérie Trouet, director of the Belgian Climate Research Centre and Professor of Tree-ring research at the University of Arizona.

Keynote slides

Derk Loorbach

Derk Loorbach is director of DRIFT, scientific lead of the Dutch Climate Research Initiative, and Professor of Socio-economic Transitions at the Faculty of Social Science, both at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Derk is one of the founders of the transition management approach as new form of governance for sustainable development. He has over one hundred publications in this area and has been involved as an action researcher in numerous transition processes with government, business, civil society and science. 

Valerie Trouet

Valérie Trouet is scientific director of the Belgian Climate Centre and professor in the Laboratory of Tree-ring Research at the University of Arizona (USA). There, she studies the evolution of past climate by analysing tree rings, a science called dendroclimatology, which allows her to study climate over a 2,000-year period.

In 2020, Valérie Trouet wrote a book about this for the general public in the US (‘Tree Story’), which has been translated into Dutch (‘Wat bomen ons vertellen’).

About the Climate Centre

As a centre, our mission is to empower students, staff, and society to maximize their impact on the world's climate challenges. Our strategic goal is to foster and connect the University of Twente's climate-related research and educational strengths, collaborate with stakeholders to enhance impact, facilitate a sense of community, and represent and provide a clear ear, face, and voice to the world.

We welcome all students, staff and partners who want to contribute to climate solutions through concerted actions, knowledge, and expertise development.