Dr. Kelley De Polt

Beruflicher Werdegang

• Postdoktorandin, Max-Planck-Institut für Biogeochemie, Jena, Deutschland (seit 01/2026)

• Doktorandin, Max-Planck-Institut für Biogeochemie, Jena, Deutschland (01/2022 - 01/2026)

• Wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA (01/2020 - 12/2021)

• Wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft, North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies, Asheville, North Carolina, USA (05/2021 - 12/2021)

• Studentische Hilfskraft, State Climate Office of North Carolina, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA (05/2016 - 12/2019)

Ausbildung

• Promotion (Ph.D.), Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Niederlande (01/2022 - 09/2026). Dissertation: Hot Topics: Comparison and Interaction of Heatwave-related Societal Responses and Public Health Impacts

• M.Sc. Geographie; Master's Certificate Equivalence in GIS, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA (01/2020 - 12/2021). Masterarbeit: Analyzing drivers of compound coastal water events (CCWE) with copulas: A case study in eastern North Carolina

• B.Sc. Meteorologie; Nebenfach Computerprogrammierung, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA (08/2015 - 12/2019)

Wissenschaftliches Engagement

•• Sub-Programme Group Scientific Officer, European Geosciences Union (EGU), Geoscience & Society (GS), GS6: Geoscience, Risk & Decision-Making (seit 06/2026)

• Gastherausgeberin der Sonderausgabe „Early Warning Systems from Research to Operations: Status, Innovations and Multi-Hazard Applications“, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (seit 03/2026)

• Co-Leitung der RiskKAN-Arbeitsgruppe „AI for Complex Climate Risk Mitigation“

• Vorsitzende des Early Career Research Board, MYRIAD-EU

Publikationen

Begutachtete Fachartikel

2026

Santos, A. P., De Angeli, S., Hanf, F. S., ..., De Polt, K., Šakić Trogrlić, R., & van den Homberg, M. (2026). Workshop report: Vulnerability in multi-hazard risks: addressing its complexity and dynamics. iScience, 29(4), 115250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.115250 

Tiggeloven, T., Raymond, C., de Ruiter, M. C., ..., De Polt, K., ..., & Ward, P. J. (2026). Multi-hazard risk assessment and management: pathways for the Sendai Framework and beyond. Geoscience Communication, 9, 185–221. https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-9-185-2026 

Ward, P. J., Buijs, S. L., Ciurean, R., ..., De Polt, K., ..., & Stolte, T. (2026). Reducing risk together: moving towards a more holistic approach to multi-hazard and multi-risk assessment and management. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 26(3), 1325–1345. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-1325-2026

Schlumberger, J.*, De Polt, K.*, Claassen, J. N., Tiggeloven, T., Buijs, S. L., de Ruiter, M. C., Gargiulo, M. V., Gill, J. C., Pantaleoni Reluy, N., Šakić Trogrlić, R., & Ward, P. J. (2026). Empowering ECRs to make research projects flourish: lessons from a European research project. Open Research Europe, 5, 312. https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.21517.3  (*equal contribution)

2025

Leeper, R. D., Harrington, T., Palecki, M. A., De Polt, K., Scott, E., Runkle, J. D., & Diamond, H. J. (2025). The Influence of Drought on Heat Wave Intensity, Duration, and Exposure. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 64(5), 425–438. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-24-0072.1 

Uckan, Y., Ruiz-Vásquez, M., De Polt, K., & Orth, R. (2025). Global relevance of atmospheric and land surface drivers for hot temperature extremes. Earth System Dynamics, 16(3), 869–889. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-869-2025 

2024

Bogdanovich, E., Brenning, A., Reichstein, M., De Polt, K., Guenther, L., Frank, D., & Orth, R. (2024). Official heat warnings miss situations with a detectable societal heat response in European countries. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 100, 104206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.104206 

Sewell, K., Paul, S., De Polt, K., Sugg, M. M., Leeper, R. D., Rao, D., & Runkle, J. D. (2024). Impacts of compounding drought and heatwave events on child mental health: insights from a spatial clustering analysis. Discover Mental Health, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44192-023-00055-0 

2023

De Polt, K., Ward, P. J., de Ruiter, M. C., Bogdanovich, E., Reichstein, M., Frank, D., & Orth, R. (2023). Quantifying impact-relevant heatwave durations. Environmental Research Letters, 18, 104005. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acf05e 

2021

Curtis, S., De Polt, K., Kruse, J., Mukherji, A., Helgeson, J., Ghosh, A., & Van Wagoner, P. (2021). Spatially Compounded Surge Events: An Example from Hurricanes Matthew and Florence. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 21(6), 1759–1767. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-1759-2021 

2020

Chappell, T., Ward, R., De Polt, K., Roberts, P., Greene, J., & Kennedy, G. (2020). Thrips Infestation Predictor: A practical tool for predicting tobacco thrips (Frankliniella fusca) infestation of cotton seedlings in the southeastern United States. Pest Management Science, 76(12), 4018–4028. https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.5954 

Preprints

Bogdanovich, E., Schäfer, M. S., Brenning, A., De Polt, K., Guenther, L., Reichstein, M., & Orth, R. (2026). How media portrays temperature extremes: Increased coverage, more negative sentiment, and fewer mentions of climate change. ESS Open Archive. https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.15004536/v1 

Wissenschaftskommunikation

De Polt, K., Claassen, J. N., Buijs, S. L., Reluy, N. P., Schlumberger, J., & Ramalingam, N. R. (2025). How can we encourage and empower Early Career Researchers? Reflections on a short course held at EGU 2025. EGU Blogs, Natural Hazards Division. https://blogs.egu.eu/divisions/nh/2025/11/17/how-can-we-encourage-and-empower-early-career-researchers-reflections-on-a-short-course-held-at-egu-2025/ 

De Polt, K. (2024). How Can We Redefine Natural Hazards Through Societal and Health Responses? Latest Thinking. https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB101203 

de Ruiter, M., Jäger, W., Buijs, S. L., ..., De Polt, K., ..., & Šakić Trogrlić, R. (2024). Research brief: Revolutionising Multi-Hazard Risk Assessment: Innovative Methods for a Safer Tomorrow. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12750119 

De Polt, K., Ward, P., de Ruiter, M., Bogdanovich, E., Reichstein, M., Frank, D., & Orth, R. (2023). Research brief: Impact-relevant climate hazard durations. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12749059