Climate Change results in temperature changes and is likely to affect the global water cycle, potentially by impacting the spatiotemporal distribution of rainfall, making it more uneven and extreme. As a combined consequence of climate change, increasing urban population, and economic demands, the current scenario and the urban environment face issues adapting to climate extremes, such as flood risk. South-eastern Asia (SEA) regions, including most ASEAN countries, have typically experienced intense urbanisation over the past decades. Rapid land use and anthropogenic climate change, particularly at the SEA major megacities, have resulted in higher-intensity rainfalls and more severe urban flooding events. This situation calls for response strategies that manage risks associated with changing climate more flexibly and holistically. In addition, extreme heat events due to climate change have threatened critical infrastructure as construction designs traditionally rely on a stable climate. Global warming and escalating heat waves may push existing infrastructure beyond its operational limits. Rising temperatures also increase energy demand for cooling, stressing building systems and energy grids. This potentially impacts heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, leading to higher energy consumption and grid demand, necessitating considerations for building heating and cooling capacities in a changing climate. The improved rainfall-runoff predictions via climate and hydrologic modelling for providing information on extreme rainfall and runoff intensities and characteristics, potential inundations, and the associated human, societal and economic losses are crucial. Such prediction modeling frameworks can provide real-time forecasts and long-term outlooks of regional or local hydro-meteorological conditions that will contribute to water resources and disaster management.

Current Projects 

• Spatiotemporal Assessment of Rainfall and Drought Projection under CMIP6 Scenarios (Lead PI – Pat Yeh Jen Feng)

• Identification of vulnerability and adaptation strategies of tropical urban water systems under climate change impacts (Lead PI – Chow Ming Fai)

• Leveraging remote sensing of flood observations for improved flood risk mapping (Lead PI – Izni Zahidi)

• Assessing challenges to water security from climate change in South East Asia (Lead PI: Izni Zahidi)

• Climate-disaster resilience and disaster preparedness (Lead PI – Azliyana Azhari)

• UTN: The Incubator 2024: Urban Transformation Network (Lead PI – Chow Ming Fai)

• Statistical downscaling of climate change models based on 6th assessment report (AR6) (Lead PI – Chow Ming Fai)

• Acoustic analysis of tropical raindrops impact into different surface types: a theoretical framework to develop a smart acoustic rainfall estimation model (Lead PI - Izni Zahidi)

• Estimation of vegetation Manning's roughness coefficients using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for enhanced flood modelling (Lead PI - Izni Zahidi)

• Regenerating ECO systems with Nature-based solution for hydrometeorological risk rEduCTion (RECONECT) (Lead PI - Izni Zahidi)

• A novel computing method based on artificial intelligence for real-time flood forecasting (Lead PI - Amin Talei)

• An advanced river flood risk map prediction for flood disaster management: economical and ecological assessment (Lead PI - Amin Talei)

• Sustainable management of stormwater quantity and quality in tropical urban catchments using bioretention basins - an experimental study (Lead PI - Amin Talei)

Current Achievements