There is an urgent need of statistical sound prediction methods for extreme weather, which often has a strong disruptive societal impact. The research project “Probabilistic forecasts of extreme weather utilizing advanced methods from extreme value theory” is funded by NWO-TTW (the former STW) and is a collaboration between the statistics section, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and the R&D Weather and Climate Modelling department of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI).

The tasks involved in the post-doctoral position include:

Perform a comparative verification between the statistical forecasting methods developed by the PhD student within the project and other state-of-the-art statistical (including machine learning and extreme value theory) methods.

Develop two prototype probabilistic forecast systems for extreme weather: one for a univariate weather quantity (e.g. extreme precipitation) and one for bivariate weather events (e.g. snow and (high) wind speed).  The developed forecast systems will be used by several partners, including KNMI, to improve their short-term forecasts and warnings of extreme weather.

Work closely with the current project members: Prof. dr. ir. G. Jongbloed (TU Delft), Dr. J. Cai (TU Delft), Jasper Velthoen (TU Delft), Dr. M.J. Schmeits (KNMI) and Dr. K. Whan (KNMI). You are partly based at TU Delft and partly at KNMI.

Communicate regularly with the partners on project progress.

Disseminate the results through publications in peer-reviewed journals, and presentations at international conferences.       

Applicants should have the following qualifications:

PhD on statistical and/or machine learning methods including application of these methods to (big) data, preferably in a probabilistic (weather)      forecasting framework

preferably knowledge of extreme value theory and/or statistical post-processing and verification methods

highly motivated and interested in meteorology

experienced in (statistical) programming, preferably in R

very good communication skills and fluent spoken and written English.

Fixed-term contract: 2 years.

TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, a discount for health insurance and sport memberships, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged. An International Children’s Centre offers childcare and an international primary school. Dual Career Services offers support to accompanying partners. Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities.

Faculty Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) is known worldwide for its high academic quality and the social relevance of its research programmes. The faculty’s excellent facilities accentuate its international position in teaching and research. Within this interdisciplinary and international setting the faculty employs more than 1100 employees, including about 400 graduate students and about 2100 students. Together they work on a broad range of technical innovations in the fields of sustainable energy, telecommunications, microelectronics, embedded systems, computer and software engineering, interactive multimedia and applied mathematics.

The research at the Delft Institute of Applied Mathematics (DIAM) centers around the analysis of mathematical models arising in science and engineering. This research is both fundamental and applied in nature, and is often inspired by technical applications. The department plays an active role in translating research results into concrete, practical applications. It maintains intensive contacts with other TU Delft departments, the major technological institutes and the research laboratories of major companies. Within its own subject field, the department provides teaching for the Applied Mathematics BSc and MSc programmes, and also contributes to the teaching of mathematics courses within other academic programmes at TU Delft, and within national programmes such as “MasterMath”.

The Statistics group covers one of the key research areas at DIAM. It aims at developing theory within the field of mathematical statistics as well as applying state-of-the-art statistical theory to problems from practice. Within DIAM, there is close collaboration with the applied probability group, exemplified by a joint weekly seminar and joint educational efforts (basic probability and statistics courses and courses in the Finance minor and master tracks) and active participation in Delft Data Science (DDS). The Statistics Helpdesk constitutes an interesting interface with other disciplines present at the TU Delft, leading to new interesting statistical problems and appreciation of statistics by other research groups. The group is relatively small and communication lines are short.    

https://www.tudelft.nl/en/eemcs/the-faculty/