Claire J. Horwell
- 2020
- Plinius Medal
The 2020 Plinius Medal is awarded to Claire J. Horwell for her outstanding interdisciplinary research on the respiratory health implications of volcanic aerosols, including ash, minerals and liquid droplets.
Division on Natural Hazards
President: Ira Didenkulova (nh@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Paolo Tarolli
(paolo.tarolli@unipd.it)
The Natural Hazards (NH) Division of the EGU covers all the geological and geophysical processes that can be hazardous and can produce damage to the environment and to the society. Therefore it is a place where scientists and researchers of various geo-disciplines meet with sociologists, economists and people responsible for territorial and urban defense and planning policies. The aim is to improve the understanding of the evolution of the processes and to discuss new technologies, methods and strategies to mitigate their disastrous effects. The Division is structured in nine Subdivisions covering specific hazards. Of these seven are listed here: hydro-meteorological, volcanic, landslide, earthquake-, sea and ocean, remote sensing and hazards, wildfire hazards. The eighth Subdivision covers biological and environmental hazards and in addition hazards not included in the previous ones. The ninth (natural hazards and society) focuses on the social aspects of the hazards, including development sustainability, emergency, warning, after-disaster resilience, etc. Most of the topics that are treated in the NH Division are also treated in other EGU Divisions, which is expected due to the intrinsic transversal nature of the NH Division. For example, earthquakes are the main interest of the Seismology Division, but they are also of interest here where the chief topics are, among others, how to evaluate vulnerability and risk, how to reduce the impact on human lives and society, how geo-scientists can contribute to a prompt recovery of a community affected by disasters.
The NH Division is one the historical Divisions of the EGU that was established since when EGU was founded and has been and is one of the largest divisions to which many geo-scientists provide steadily contributions of papers and ideas over the years.
As for all EGU Divisions, an Early Career Scientist Award is established also for the NH Division and is given to young researchers who obtain outstanding results in the assessment and mitigation of natural hazard adopting a multidisciplinary approach. In addition, the NH Division awards the Plinius Medal devoted since 2012 to mid-career researchers and the Soloviev Medal for scientists who give outstanding contributions in fundamental aspects of research on natural hazards.
Recent awardees
John J. Clague
- 2020
- Sergey Soloviev Medal
The 2020 Sergey Soloviev Medal is awarded to John J. Clague for his remarkable scientific contributions in fundamental and applied research on earthquakes, tsunamis, outburst floods and landslides, directed towards risk reduction for the benefit of societies.
Vitor Silva
- 2020
- Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award
The 2020 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award is awarded to Vitor Silva for his fundamental contributions to the research on earthquake risk assessment.
Kyoji Sassa
- 2019
- Sergey Soloviev Medal
The 2019 Sergey Soloviev Medal is awarded to Kyoji Sassa for outstanding scientific contributions in fundamental research in landslide hazards and in landslide risk-reduction initiatives for the benefit of societies.
Philip J. Ward
- 2019
- Plinius Medal
The 2019 Plinius Medal is awarded to Philip J. Ward for outstanding research on flood and drought risk assessments from global to local scales.
Jadranka Šepić
- 2019
- Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award
The 2019 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award is awarded to Jadranka Šepić for fundamental contributions to the research on meteorological tsunamis and high-frequency sea level oscillations.
Alexandra Urgilez Vinueza
- 2019
- Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award
The 2019 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Alexandra Urgilez Vinueza The occurrence of Landslides in Guarumales, Ecuador
Ina Teutsch
- 2019
- Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award
The 2019 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Ina Teutsch Rogue Waves in the Southern North Sea
Rahul Kumar
- 2019
- Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award
The 2019 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Rahul Kumar Urban interactions with heatwaves in India
Ricarda Gatter
- 2019
- Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award
The 2019 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Ricarda Gatter The significance of weak layers for submarine slope failure
Latest posts from the NH blog
DE BELLO VULCANICO 40-year scientific effort of ‘predicting the unpredictable’ since the 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens
- Natural Hazards
- posted 5 days ago
Volcanoes arouse emotions in the soul of men: at the same time, they are fascinating and frighten the population that lives on their slopes when they erupt (Fig. 1). Volcanoes can strike without warning and wreak horrific destruction and death. As such, in the ancient time, volcanoes discharging explosive eruptions have been interpreted as the wrath of gods that destroys and annihilates all around. The fourth book of the Epigrams by the Latin poet Marcus Valerius Martial offers a heartbreaking …
Mount Saint Helens 40 years later – May 18, 1980: for everything to stay the same, everything must change
- Natural Hazards
- posted 2 weeks ago
Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it! Just a few words radioed by volcanologist David ‘Dave’ Johnston on May 18, 1980, to USGS headquarter in Vancouver, Washington State. It was 8:32 a.m., and a few hours later he lost his life during the (in)famous Mount St Helens eruption. That day, exactly forty years ago, the eruption of Mount St. Helen upset the world. It all started with a collapse on the northern flank of the volcano producing the largest landslide in world …
NH Medallists episode III – Claire Horwell and her interdisciplinary work on volcanic emission hazards for human health
- Natural Hazards
- posted 1 month ago
In today’s interview, we talk with Prof. Claire J. Horwell. Claire has been awarded the 2020 Plinius Medal for her outstanding interdisciplinary research on the respiratory health implications of inhaling volcanic emissions, and other particulates. my research focuses on protecting communities from exposures to potentially harmful airborne particulates Hi Claire, can you please briefly introduce yourself? Hello! I’m a Professor of Geohealth at Durham University, UK, in the Department of Earth Sciences and Institute of Hazard, Risk & Resilience. I …
#shareEGU20 afterthoughts about virtual conferencing
- Natural Hazards
- posted 1 month ago
It’s 2020 and a new coronavirus has spread all over the world-changing most if not all our habits. In a few weeks, we’ve seen adaptations to living in a world with this pandemic, from many points of view. Science reacted and adapted very quickly, sharing research and opening dialogues using online tools. Similarly, the EGU General Assembly that usually hosts every year around 15,000 people in research activities, presentations and courses, this year has been hosted online. In less than …
Current issue of the EGU newsletter
This month EGU issued an important statement condemning racism—and all other forms of discrimination—anywhere in the world and re-asserting our commitment to improving equality of opportunity, diversity and inclusion both within and beyond the geosciences.
A crucial component of anti-racism is sustaining a productive conversation about issues related to equality, diversity and inclusion. In keeping with EGU’s bottom-up structure and philosophy, we welcome diverse voices and opinions and encourage all geoscientists to constructively express their thoughts. In response to recent events, numerous individuals and groups have done so, including:
- The Young Hydrologic Society took a stand against racism and pledged to take both group and individual actions for anti-racism
- EGU’s Tectonics and Structural Geology Division and Cryospheric Sciences Division began blog series featuring influential women in their disciplines
- EGU's Seismology Division added to its popular Representing the Possible blog series
- The Geodynamics Division introduced readers to some exceptional researchers who also "just happen to be black"
In celebration of Pride Month, EGU also published an article about risks to safety and other issues that LGBTQIA+ geoscientists face while conducting fieldwork in certain countries.
Since EGU’s founding, the organisation has worked to ensure equitable treatment for everyone in our community. Through our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion working group, we are working towards our stated goals to increase diversity at EGU events and on EGU committees and boards, and we pledge to continue to foster diversity to advance fundamental and applied geoscience research—to the benefit of the Earth and all humanity.