President: Heidi Kreibich
(Emailnh@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Nivedita Sairam
(Email)
ECS Representative: Elisa Grazia Lucia Nobile
(Emailecs-nh@egu.eu)
The Natural Hazards (NH) Division covers all natural hazards that can produce damage to the environment and to the society. Therefore, it is a place where scientists and researchers of various geosciences disciplines meet with sociologists, economists and people responsible for territorial and urban security 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 eleven subdivisions as follows: Hydro-Meteorological Hazards, Volcanic Hazards, Landslide and Snow Avalanche Hazards, Earthquake Hazards, Sea and Ocean Hazards, Remote Sensing, AI, Data Science & Hazards, Wildfire Hazards, Environmental, Biological and Natech Hazards, Natural Hazards and Society, Multi-Hazards and Climate Hazards. 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.
The NH Division is one of the historical Divisions of the EGU that was established 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. In addition, the NH Division awards the Plinius Medal that recognises outstanding interdisciplinary natural-hazard research and the Soloviev Medal that recognises outstanding scientific contributions in fundamental research on natural hazards. Both medals are open for all career stages.
Latest posts from the NH blog
Multi-Risk Forecasting: Operational Reality or Scientific Ambition?
Reflections from a workshop on multi-risk impact-based forecasting and warning systems for weather-related hazards. With mounting evidence that hazards rarely occur in isolation, the question is no longer whether multi-risk impact-based forecasting and warning systems are needed, but how to build them [1]. Yet, moving beyond single-hazard thinking towards genuinely multi-hazard and then multi-risk perspectives is far from straightforward. It brings with it a range of challenges – from how we define and model interacting hazards and risks, to how …
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From Seismic Signals to Safer Trains: Italy’s First Earthquake Early Warning System for High-Speed Railways
Earthquakes remain among the most disruptive natural hazards worldwide, capable of causing sudden loss of life, severe economic damage, and long-lasting societal impacts. One of the most effective tools developed in recent decades to mitigate these effects is Earthquake Early Warning (EEW), a real-time monitoring strategy that exploits a fundamental physical property of earthquakes: seismic waves do not propagate instantaneously, and their speed is much slower than the light-speed at which the information travel through communication channels. When an earthquake …
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Same hills, different rules: why urban and rural landslides should not be considered together?
Cities are expanding faster than ever, often onto steep and unstable terrain. As urban areas grow, landslides increasingly threaten homes, roads, and critical infrastructure. To manage this risk, scientists produce landslide susceptibility maps, which estimate where landslides are most likely to occur. These maps are widely used by planners and decision-makers. But there is a quiet assumption built into many of these maps: that landslides occurring in cities and those happening in surrounding rural areas follow the same rules. Our …
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Recent awardees
The 2026 Plinius Medal is awarded to
Amir AghaKouchak for outstanding interdisciplinary contributions to understanding and mitigating Anthropogenic Drought, hydrologic extremes, and compound hazards.
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- 2026
- Sergey Soloviev Medal
The 2026 Sergey Soloviev Medal is awarded to
Gerassimos A. Papadopoulos for promoting innovative research on geohazards that led to a new tsunami intensity scale, improving the analysis of foreshock seismic sequences and for the development of tsunami warning systems.
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- 2026
- Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists
The 2026 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists is awarded to
Nivedita Sairam in recognition of exceptional contributions to systemic modelling of compounding and cascading flood impacts.
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The 2025 Plinius Medal is awarded to
Annegret Henriette Thieken in recognition of outstanding contributions to the understanding and mitigation of flood risk, and the design of adaptation management strategies informed by the involvement of affected communities.
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- 2025
- Sergey Soloviev Medal
The 2025 Sergey Soloviev Medal is awarded to
Sergio M. Vicente-Serrano for creating a novel drought indicator, which has become the benchmark for quantifying droughts, and for pioneering studies in the integration of different drought typologies.
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- 2025
- Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award
The 2025 Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award is awarded to
Clarence Gagnon The role of extratropical cyclones in flooding in Quebec, Canada, from 1991 to 2020
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- 2025
- Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award
The 2025 Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award is awarded to
Julián Montejo Optimal site hazard grid for probabilistic risk assessment: A two-step approach
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- 2025
- Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists
The 2025 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists is awarded to
Mariana Madruga de Brito for outstanding contributions to understanding of the socio-economic impacts and risk mitigation of extreme hydrological events, using natural language processing and social science computational methods.
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Current issue of the EGU newsletter
In our April issue, we are welcoming EGU26 with a range of tools and blog posts to help you get the most out of the meeting! Also meet the managing director or EGU's publications and conference partner company Copernicus, Martin Rasmussen, as he talks about how the General Assembly has changed in the last 20 years, the EGU awards and medals are now open for nominations, discover how footprints in muddy tidal flats are helping us learn about climate change and don't miss the 15 May deadline to apply for funding to support a training school or special conference!
All this and much more, in this month's Loupe!
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Current issue of the NH division newsletter
Welcome from the NH Division Team
Dear colleagues and friends,
The EGU General Assembly 2026 is just around the corner, and we are looking forward to welcoming you to Vienna for a week of science, exchange, and connection.
Following last year’s initiative, this issue of the newsletter focuses on the General Assembly, bringing together key activities, highlights, and opportunities to engage with the Natural Hazards community. Alongside this, you will also find updates on ongoing initiatives and ways to stay involved beyond the conference.
We hope this issue helps you navigate the week ahead and makes you feel part of the community, whether you are new or a long-time member. And see you all the Division meeting for Natural Hazards (NH) on Thu, 07 May, 12:45–13:45 (CEST) - Room F2.
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