Résumé - Floris Calkoen

Coastal Scientist | Cloud Technology | Earth Observation | CoastalAI | Climate Risk

Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| LinkedIn | GitHub | ORCID | Google Scholar

A PhD candidate in Coastal Science specializing in Earth Observation, cloud technology, and GeoAI with a focus on climate risk. Experienced in applying new technologies at scale, demonstrated by mapping the world’s coast using deep learning from petabytes of satellite data. Co-developer of the H2020 CoCliCo web portal, with core contributions to its cloud data architecture, and an author of multiple peer-reviewed publications and open-source scientific software.

Professional Experience

PhD Researcher | Deltares & Delft University of Technology | 2021–2025

• Designed and implemented cloud-native geospatial workflows on Planetary Computer, Azure, and HPC, using AI for global coastal analytics, processing petabytes of satellite data.
• Developed the cloud data infrastructure for the European H2020 CoCliCo project, harmonizing climate projections, exposure data, and satellite-derived data products.
• Authored and maintained several open global coastal datasets, applying deep learning models at scale for coastal classification.

Research Intern | Instituto Dom Luiz, University of Lisbon | 2019

• Analyzed multi-decadal coastal change in Portugal using satellite imagery, with results presented in an interactive web-based visualization.

Core Competencies & Skills

Professional Skills

• Research: Conducted independent research from proposal to publication, collaborating with international teams and contributing to a multi-year H2020 project.
• Problem Solving: Translate complex scientific questions into automated and scalable software solutions that address real-world climate challenges.
• Communication & Mentorship: Author of peer-reviewed publications and open educational resources; experienced in public speaking and supervising MSc students.

Technical Skills

• Geospatial & Earth Observation: Global, cloud-native coastal monitoring; analysis of satellite imagery (Landsat, Sentinel, ICESat-2); proficient with DuckDB, Dask, Xarray, Pandas, Open Data Cube, Pangeo, and Planetary Computer.
• Cloud & DevOps: Cloud-native architecture (Azure, AWS); cloud-optimized data (Parquet, COG, Zarr); experienced with STAC, CI/CD, Coiled, and Azure Container Apps.
• Machine Learning: Deep learning for image classification (PyTorch, Lightning, Wandb), experience with multimodal LLMs, and proficiency with Scikit-learn.

Education

• PhD in Coastal Science | Deltares & Delft University of Technology
• MSc in Data Science | University of Amsterdam
• MSc in Marine Environment and Resources | Erasmus Mundus Consortium
• BA in Philosophy | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• BSc in Earth Science (Geology) | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Selected Publications

• Calkoen et al., (2025). Mapping the world’s coast. ESSD Discussions.
• Calkoen et al., (2024). Enabling coastal analytics at planetary scale. Env. Modelling & Software.

Grants & Awards

• TU Delft Education Innovation Projects Grant (2024)
• TU Delft Open Education Stimulation Fund Grant (2023)
• Prof. Collins Award for Best MSc Thesis Presentation (2019)
• VSBfonds Scholarship (2017)

Languages

Dutch (Native), English (Excellent), Spanish (Working Proficiency), French (Basic)

References are available upon request.

For a comprehensive academic and professional history, including a full list of publications and presentations, please see my Curriculum Vitae.