VUB Welcomes Four US Climate Researchers to Brussels
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) is welcoming four internationally renowned American climate researchers to Brussels for a three-year appointment under its new VUB-US Research Chair programme, supported by the Helios Foundation. The announcement, made on Friday, marks a significant step in the university’s effort to strengthen transatlantic collaboration in climate and sustainability research amid a challenging geopolitical environment for US academia.
The four researchers—Prof. Valerie Trouet (University of Arizona), Prof. David O. Prevatt (University of Florida), Dr Sol Kim (University of Chicago), and Prof. Kirsten Heikkinen Dodson (Lipscomb University)—bring complementary expertise spanning dendrochronology, coastal engineering, extreme weather attribution, and humanitarian engineering. According to VUB’s press release, the researchers will retain their ties to their US universities while conducting research at VUB, working alongside established research groups.
A Bridge Between Europe and the United States
“It is not the intention that the researchers sever their ties with their American university,” said Pieter Ballon, VUB Vice-Rector for Research. “Thanks to the Research Chairs, they can conduct research at VUB and build collaborations to address global climate and sustainability challenges.” Ballon emphasized that VUB is already one of Europe’s most successful universities in climate, energy, and sustainability research, and that through these Research Chairs, the university aims to become “a reference centre that builds bridges between Europe and the United States.”
VUB Rector Jan Danckaert underscored the inherently international nature of climate science. “The climate challenge is inherently interdisciplinary and international,” he said. “Climate change cannot be understood or tackled from a single discipline or from within one country. The arrival of these four researchers illustrates exactly what VUB aims to be: an open, international knowledge environment where leading expertise from different fields reinforces one another.”
Four Complementary Research Profiles
Each researcher brings a distinct area of expertise that aligns with existing VUB research programmes. Valerie Trouet, a professor of dendrochronology at the University of Arizona and former director of the Belgian Climate Centre, is internationally known for reconstructing past climate variability using tree rings. At VUB, she will collaborate with climate scientist Prof. Wim Thiery, combining historical climate data with climate models to gain new insights into climate variability and hydrological extremes. Her inaugural lecture, titled “Standing on the Shoulders of Ancients,” was scheduled for Friday at VUB’s Usquare Campus, formally inaugurating her Research Chair.
David O. Prevatt, a professor of civil and coastal engineering at the University of Florida, specializes in making residential infrastructure and communities more resilient to natural hazards. He previously served as a Jefferson Science Fellow of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, assigned to the US Department of State from 2024 to 2025. At VUB, he will work with Prof. Michael Ryckewaert on urban planning, housing policy, architecture, and climate adaptation.
Dr Sol Kim, a climate scientist at the University of Chicago, focuses on extreme weather events, climate attribution, and the application of artificial intelligence in climate science. His work with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the European Space Agency will complement VUB’s research into translating climate science into litigation, economic damage assessments, and climate policy. Kirsten Heikkinen Dodson, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Lipscomb University, brings 15 years of experience in humanitarian engineering. Her project at VUB will explore “urban humanitarian engineering”—how engineers collaborate with communities to address challenges such as accessibility, inequality, and wellbeing in cities.
From Call to Action to Structural Collaboration
The announcement represents the culmination of an initiative VUB launched in March 2025, when the university opened 12 postdoctoral positions for international researchers with a particular focus on American scholars. At the time, Rector Danckaert described the move as a response to the “alarming political interference” of the Trump administration in academic research, noting that “American universities and their researchers are the biggest victims of this political and ideological interference.”
As The Guardian reported, VUB was among a handful of European institutions offering refuge to US researchers facing funding freezes and ideological restrictions. The university noted that two research projects it had approved in collaboration with US partners—one on youth and disinformation, another on transatlantic dialogue—had been cancelled due to “changed policy priorities.”
VUB was founded in 1834 specifically to safeguard academic freedom from interference by church or state, a founding principle that made the university particularly responsive to threats to academic freedom elsewhere. The university also noted the symbolic significance of welcoming American researchers to Brussels, a city that then-candidate Trump described as a “hellhole” in a 2016 Fox News interview.
Building a Transatlantic Climate Research Hub
The new Research Chair programme, made possible through the Helios Foundation, offers both full-time and part-time positions for three-year terms. The foundation supports initiatives contributing to a climate-resilient society and, in collaboration with VUB and ULB, invests in research chairs focused on climate, sustainability, and wellbeing.
As BRUZZ reported, the arrival of these researchers is part of VUB’s broader strategy to position itself as an international reference centre for climate and sustainability research, bringing together expertise from climate modelling, extreme weather events, infrastructure, urban planning, mobility, and social transitions.
The collaboration is intended not only to strengthen individual research agendas but also to generate new international research projects, joint funding applications, and lasting research alliances around one of the defining challenges of our time. As the VRT NWS report noted, the researchers will be fully integrated into VUB research groups, with access to the university’s research infrastructure.
What to Watch For
With the four researchers now in place, observers will be watching how this model of transatlantic research collaboration evolves. The programme could serve as a template for other European institutions seeking to attract scientific talent while maintaining productive ties with US universities. For VUB, the challenge ahead will be translating these individual appointments into sustained, impactful research programmes that address the urgent climate adaptation and sustainability questions facing both continents.