Symposium on the Sino-Dutch international cooperation project ‘Coping with Deltas Transition’ was held at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) during March 24-31, 2019, which is the Intergovernmental cooperation on science and technology innovation of the National Key Research and Development Program. More than 40 members from East China Normal University (ECNU), Tsinghua University, Delft University of Technology, the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) and Deltares attended this symposium, including nineteen staff and PhD students from our university.
The project was officially launched in ECNU in May 2018, which is supported by the Programme Strategic Scientific Alliances (PSA) and funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology in China (MOST) and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), aiming at establishing a long-term scientific and strategic cooperation relationship between China and the Netherlands. ECNU takes the lead in this joint project, the Chinese and Dutch principal investigators are Prof. Qing He from and Prof. Zhengbing Wang (TU Delft), respectively. The theme of the project is coping with deltas in transition, with the aim to understand the characteristics, processes and mechanisms of the deltas in transition, to predict possible ecological effects, and to put forward coping strategies. This project has been selected for the third phase by PSA since 2004.
During the Symposium, the Chinese and Dutch sides discussed the implemented work of the project in the past year, and carried out the comprehensive arrangements and meticulous planning for the future of work. Prof. Qing He from East China Normal University, Prof. Tom Ysebaert from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Prof. Bram van Prooijen from Delft University of Technology, and Prof. Binliang Lin from Tsinghua University reported the current work progress on behalf of their respective research teams, respectively. Afterwards, the members of the Sino-Dutch research teams discussed the context, research questions and goals of estuary /channel processes and intertidal flat processes, and gave plenary reports and discussion on field measurements and modeling. Following discussion of these reports, the members discussed the joint field measurements, cooperation and exchange in the summer of 2019. After the Symposium, participants attended a field trip to the Port of Rotterdam's Maasvlakte.
