Walz, Yvonne
Associate Academic Officer
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- INSTITUTE:
- UNU-EHS
- OFFICE:
- Environmental Vulnerability & Ecosystem Services (EVES) Section
- E-MAIL:
- walz@ehs.unu.edu
- PHONE:
- +49-228-815-0232
- NATIONALITY:
- Germany
Research Interests
- Climate change adaptation
- Disaster risk reduction
- Vulnerability and Risk Assessment
Education
- Ph.D., Geographical Remote Sensing and Spatial Epidemiology, University of Würzburg, Department of Remote Sensing, Germany, in close collaboration with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, Switzerland
- MSc., Geographical Information Science & Systems (UNIGIS), University of Salzburg, Department of Geoinformatics
- Diploma, Geography, Geology and Botany, University of Würzburg
Appointments
- 2017 to Present: Member of the FEBA (Friends of EbA) Network
- 2017 to Present: Member of ZFL Steering Board
- 2017 to Present: Member of the International Advisory Board of the Master program on Climate Change and Human Security (CCHS) of the West African Science Service Center for Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL)
- 2016 to present: Member of the Working Group on Natural Hazards and Risks in the German Society for Geography
- 2015 to present: Member of the Joint Academic Board, Joint Master of Science ’Geography of Environmental Risks and Human Security’, University of Bonn, Department of Geography (GIUB) and United Nations University (UNU-EHS)
Biographical Statement
Dr. Yvonne Walz holds a Ph.D.in the interdisciplinary field of geographical remote sensing and spatial epidemiology from the University of Würzburg, Germany, which she conducted in close collaboration with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (STP) in Basel. Thereby, she specialized in spatial risk profiling of human diseases, exemplified for the case of schistosomiasis in West Africa. Her research focus at UNU-EHS is on vulnerability and risk assessment, developing methodological approaches to support the monitoring of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, multi-sectoral perspective on climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and public health.
Her background in geography, remote sensing and GIS stems from studies in Geography (“Diplom”) at the University Würzburg, Germany, and a correspondence course on Geographical Information Systems and Science (MSc GIS) at the University of Salzburg, Austria. During her work at the University of Würzburg and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Promoting Water Management and Risk Communication in Bonn, Dr. Walz has gained seven years of work experience in analyzing socio-ecological systems of environment and human health. At the Centre for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI) at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), she led the health mapping activities within the GMES RESPOND Service Elements of the European Space Agency (ESA), and was involved in crisis intervention and spatial damage assessment. During her work at the Department of Land Information (DLI) in Australia, Dr. Walz conducted research on monitoring of burn severity and the impact of fire management practices in temperate forests of South-Western Australia.
Currently, Dr. Walz is working as Associate Academic Officer in the Environmental Vulnerability & Ecosystem Services section (EVES) section, where she is coordinating UNU-EHS activities in several projects, such as EvIDENz and CLIMAFRI. In addition, she supports the section heads in the application for new research grants, supervises visiting scientists, research/student assistants and interns, and is actively involved in teaching activities of the joint MSc program on Geography of Environmental Risk and Human Security of UNU-EHS and University of Bonn, at the UNU-EHS block course with the Disaster Management, Education and Training Center (DiMTEC) at the University of the Free State (UFS), at UNU-MERIT and at the WASCAL PhD program on Climate Change and Human Security in Lomé, Togo.
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Articles
- Sebesvari, Zita, Woelki, Jacob, Walz, Yvonne, Sudmeier-Rieux, Karen, Sandholz, Simone, Tol, Susanna, Ruíz García, Verónica, Blackwood, Katherine and Renaud, Fabrice G. (2019). Opportunities for considering green infrastructure and ecosystems in the Sendai Framework Monitor. Progress in Disaster Science, 2, 1-5
- Hagenlocher, Michael, Meza, Isabel, Anderson, Carl C., Min, Annika, Renaud, Fabrice G., Walz, Yvonne, Siebert, Stefan and Sebesvari, Zita (2019). Drought vulnerability and risk assessments: state of the art, persistent gaps, and research agenda. Environmental Research Letters, 1-23
- Kulinkina, Alexandra V., Walz, Yvonne, Koch, Magaly, Biritwum, Nana-Kwadwo and Utzinger, Juerg (2018). Improving spatial prediction of Schistosoma haematobium prevalence in southern Ghana through new remote sensors and local water access profiles. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 12(6), 1-22
- Graw, Valerie, Ghazaryan, Gohar, Dall, Karen, Delgado Gómez, Andoni, Abdel-Hamid, Ayman, Jordaan, Andries, Piroska, Ruben, Post, Joachim, Szarzynski, Joerg, Walz, Yvonne and Dubovyk, Olena (2017). Drought Dynamics and Vegetation Productivity in Different Land Management Systems of Eastern Cape, South Africa—A Remote Sensing Perspective. Sustainability, 9(10), 1-19
- Asare-Kyei, Daniel, Renaud, Fabrice G., Walz, Yvonne and Rhyner, Jakob (2017). Development and validation of risk profiles of West African rural communities facing multiple natural hazards. PLoS ONE, 12(3), n/a-n/a
- Walz, Yvonne, Wegmann, Martin, Dech, Stefan, Raso, Giovanna and Utzinger, Jürg (2015). Risk profiling of schistosomiasis using remote sensing: approaches, challenges and outlook. Parasites and vectors, 8(163), 1-16
- Walz, Yvonne, Wegmann, Martin, Dech, Stefan, Vounatsou, Penelope, Poda, Jean-Noël, N',Goran, Eliézer K, Utzinger, Jürg and Raso, Giovanna (2015). Modeling and validation of environmental suitability for schistosomiasis transmission using remote sensing. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 9(11), 1-22
- Walz, Yvonne, Wegmann, Martin, Leutner, Benjamin, Dech, Stefan W., Vounatsou, Penelope, N',Goran, Eliézer K, Raso, Giovanna and Utzinger, Jürg (2015). Use of an ecologically relevant modelling approach to improve remote sensing-based schistosomiasis risk profiling. Geospatial Health, 10(2), 271-279
Book Chapters
- Triyanti, Annisa, Walz, Yvonne, Marfai, Muhammad Aris, Renaud, Fabrice and Djalante, Riyanti, “Ecosystem-Based Disaster Risk Reduction in Indonesia: Unfolding Challenges and Opportunities” in Disaster Risk Reduction in Indonesia – Progress, Challenges, and Issues, ed. Djalante, Riyanti, Garschagen, Matthias, Thomalla, Frank and Shaw, Rajib ( Basel: Springer International Publishing AG,2017), 445-467.
Reports
- Walz, Yvonne, Dall, Karen, Graw, Valerie, Villagrán de León, Juan Carlos, Haas, Susanne, Kussul, Nataliia and Jordaan, Andries (2018). Understanding and reducing agricultural drought risk: Examples from South Africa and Ukraine. United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security.
- Walz, Yvonne, Haas, Susanne, Greenough, Karen, Forkuor, Gerald, Mück, Matthias, Taubenböck, Hannes, von Sassen, Stella and Renaud, Fabrice G. (2017). Risk Assessment in West Africa: A Handbook for Practitioners. WASCAL Competence Center.
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- West African Science Service Center on Climate Change (WASCAL)
- Enabling knowledge for disaster risk reduction in integration to climate change adaptation (KNOW-4-DRR)
- Development of International Water Quality Guidelines for Ecosystems (IWQGES 2) – Phase 2
- WASCAL consolidation phase
- EvIDENz – Earth Observation based information products for drought risk reduction on the national level
- TelePAtH Tipping Points of Food Security in coupled social-ecological systems of West Africa under Climatic Hazards
- CLIMAFRI – Implementing Climate-sensitive Adaptation strategies to reduce Flood Risk in the transboundary Lower Mono River catchment in Togo and Benin