Hi! My name is Ricardo Buitenhuis, and in this little blog I will tell you about my time here at 52°North as part of my bachelor thesis in computer science. But first, who am I and how did I get here?

I grew up in the Netherlands and while doing my bachelors at Avans University of Applied Sciences in s’-Hertogenbosch, I was convinced I wanted to finish my studies in Germany, for the simple fact that I like the German language. As someone with just a background in computer science, I knew the geo side would be new to me, and a challenge, but I thought it would be fun to combine software development and geography. So after extensive googling I found 52°North and just applied!

At the beginning of my time at 52°North, I had the opportunity to choose which project I found interesting. I chose to work on the I-CISK project. The I-CISK project is an exciting international research project that aims to develop tailored climate services for seven ‘Living Labs’, located across Europe and Africa. All these regions are faced with different consequences of climate change, and each have their own local challenges to overcome.

Within the project I took charge of the development and communication with the Living Lab Rijnland, located in the Netherlands. They were interested in taking preemptive action against climate change by employing forecasts for river discharge, temperature and precipitation. Because I joined at the beginning of the project, there was a lot of groundwork to be laid down in terms of planning, creating mock-ups, and talking to Dutch stakeholders (water authority, farmers, and water tourists) to collect feedback. This has greatly improved my professional ability to hold meetings and give presentations.

The final product of my work at 52°North was a 6 month percentile ensemble forecast with uncertainty bands, with data from the water discharge at measuring point Lobith, where the majority of Dutch river water enters the Netherlands. The app was built in React, with a Python back-end, deployed into the I-CISK infrastructure: https://i-cisk.dev.52north.org/living-labs/rijnland–nl/app/

Looking back I’m amazed by the amount of responsibility and freedom given to a bachelor’s student, but I could also handle it because of great supportive colleagues to help me with my struggles. Doing my internship, 52°North has given me an amazing introduction to the field of geo-sciences, and also opportunities/support to grow further. At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to work in this field, but after my good experiences at 52°North, I’m sure I will.