About Hans Gehrels

Hans Gehrels holds a PhD in hydrology and is a thought leader on sustainable water management and urban resilience. His main fields of expertise include urban water management, flood risk, climate adaptation and water sensitive urban design. Within Deltares, he is manager of the corporate team on Urban Resilience.

In the Netherlands, Gehrels’ work focuses on initiating and developing research programs addressing water and climate adaptation challenges for the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (Delta Program on Spatial Adaptation). He is program director of the Climate Resilient Cities Research Track within the Dutch National Water and Climate Knowledge and Innovation Program. Gehrels is a member of several research program commissions to coordinate research funding. Gehrels is part of the Water&Urban program team of the Global Center on Adaptation.

Abroad, Dr. Gehrels has work experience in The Netherlands, Botswana, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Lao PDR, Mexico, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, USA, Uzbekistan and Viet Nam. Gehrels is Deltares’ project director of a framework agreement partnership with the World Bank on urban flood risk assessments in the World Bank’s City Resilience Program. He has recently worked as a team leader in projects on urban resilience in New York, Chennai and Mexico City, and in World Bank projects on flood risk management in Vientiane, Colombo, Manila and Ho Chi Minh City. Gehrels is member of the Board of Directors of the EU branch of the Resilient Cities Network. Together with this global network of cities, Deltares has been involved in building resilience in Bangkok, Cape Town, Chennai, Christchurch, Mexico City, Milan, Montevideo, New Orleans, Rotterdam, San Juan, Semarang, Surat, The Hague, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington DC.

Gehrels has experience as a researcher, as a manager and as a strategic advisor for multiple stakeholders. He worked as a researcher at TNO Institute of Applied Geosciences and held the position of assistant professor at Delft University of Technology, focusing on stochastic hydrology and geohydrology. Gehrels has been the general manager of several urban water management departments at TNO and Deltares, being responsible for project management, financial results and human resources. As a strategic advisor, he supports both the Dutch Government in water and climate adaptation knowledge program development and cities in complex projects aiming at improving urban water and climate resilience. Gehrels (co-)authored several publications for international peer-reviewed journals, dealing with flood risk management, surface water and groundwater modelling, time series analysis, unsaturated zone hydrology and aquifer heterogeneity.