Koen De Vos
R&D Professional
Koen obtained an interuniversity master’s degree in Geography with a focus on Earth and Climate Sciences and GIS from KU Leuven and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium. In 2023, he earned his Ph.D. in Geography from KU Leuven under an FWO Interdisciplinary Fellowship that focused on imminent issues in the African rice system. Since 2021, he is a Guest Research Scholar at the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and has actively contributed to developments to their “Global Biosphere Management Model (GLOBIOM)”- particularly in terms of climate-related yield shocks, and indirect land use changes. In November 2023, he joined VITO.
Remote Sensing can make complex things appear easy. Well, let's use it to make global, complex issues a bit easier!
At VITO, Koen has been developing AI-based Earth-Observation applications in projects with a strong societal component and global development perspective, such as: ESA GDA-Fragility, ESA GDA-Agriculture, or CENTAUR (Horizon-Europe). His work ranges from locust habitat monitoring, banana detection, to agricultural drought forecasting – but always involves the complex interactions between agriculture and food security, something he is really passionate about.
