Vienna, 23.04.2023 - The European Geoscience Union's (EGU) annual conference in Vienna brought together over 15,000 participants from 107 countries for a week of scientific exchange and collaboration from the field of natural sciences, covering topics ranging from the deep interior of the Earth to the pressing challenges of climate change, the event proved to be a hub of diverse knowledge and expertise.
EGU Vienna, organized annually, provides a unique opportunity for scientists from different fields to collaborate and address the complexities inherent in their respective areas of study. From climate scientists to experts in extreme event attribution, insurance, and re-insurance, attendees recognized the need for cross-collaboration to tackle the multifaceted issues confronting the planet.
Our Climate Change and Health team actively engaged in various sessions, presenting our research and contributing to the conference's visibility. Among the notable contributions were:
Dr. Coral Salvador, a post-doctoral researcher from the Climate Change and Health team, shared her recent work investigating the impact of heat on acute cardiovascular disease events in adults aged 40-75 years residing in Madrid.
Sidharth Sivaraj presented results from his ongoing PhD project on the role of humidity in high heat-related mortality events. His study, part of the compound weather and climate events session, shed light on the emerging field of combined extreme events, such as extreme heat and humidity. Sidharth emphasized the importance of exchanging concepts and methodologies between multi-disciplinary fields to understand climate change's health impacts better and to provide a better understanding of the foundational challenges shared in both fields.
Prof. Dr. Ana Vicedo-Cabrera presented a groundbreaking study quantifying the footprint of human-induced climate change on heat-related deaths during Switzerland's scorching summer of 2022. This study, recently published in Environmental Research Letters, piqued the interest of diverse audiences from various fields due to the practical approach taken, highlighting the need for collaboration between climate scientists and epidemiologists.
Laura Paredes-Fortuny, a Ph.D. student at the Mediterranean Center for Environmental Studies, showcased her research on the impact of heatwave characteristics on mortality in Spanish cities. Her project, undertaken in collaboration with our Climate Change and Health team at ISPM (during the fall of 2022), garnered significant attention at the conference.
Dr. Evan de Schrijver received great interest in his poster presentation on "Nationwide Projections of Heat- and Cold-Related Mortality Impacts under Climate Change and Population Development Scenarios in Switzerland." Here, he showcased the novel approach of incorporating population development projections in future health impact modeling, a necessity yet a modelling approach that is still so often overlooked.
EGU Vienna emerged as a premier platform to foster connections beyond the field of epidemiology. The conference demonstrated the significance of collaborating with climate scientists and utilizing their data to estimate health impacts on society. The wealth of knowledge exchanged and the willingness to work together for a sustainable future was evident throughout the event.
For more information on the studies presented during the conference, please visit:
