Floris Reinier Calkoen

Coastal Science | Earth Observation | Climate Resilience | Cloud Technology | GeoAI

A coastal scientist with a PhD and a broad background in geology, philosophy, data science, and marine sciences, specializing in Earth Observation, global geospatial data analysis, and GeoAI, usually with a focus on climate risk. Experienced in applying new technologies at scale, like mapping the world’s coast using deep learning from petabytes of satellite data. Co-developer of the EU Horizon 2020 CoCliCo web portal, with contributions to its cloud data architecture, and an author of multiple peer-reviewed publications and open-source scientific software. I have a vision of how to turn big geospatial data into products that can inform policymakers, effectively bridging Earth observation to policy. Looking for a role where I can grow towards technically leading a team working on climate resilience. I value working with people, have lived and worked across multiple continents, and like speaking multiple languages.

Professional Experience

PhD Researcher | Deltares & Delft University of Technology | 2021–2026

Developed a scalable, cloud-native analytical framework to analyze petabytes of satellite imagery, leading to the first usage of deep learning to map the world’s coast.
Conducted a global impact assessment of future coastal erosion under different scenarios of sea-level rise, moving from studying coastal erosion as a natural process to where it becomes a societal risk.
Co-developed the cloud data infrastructure for the European H2020 CoCliCo project, harmonizing climate projections, exposure data, and satellite-derived data products into one data system serving different end-users, from practitioners to policymakers.

Visiting Researcher | U.S. Geological Survey, Santa Cruz (USA) | Dec 2023 – Jan 2024

Worked on global coastal classification using satellite imagery and deep learning.

Visiting Researcher | Water Research Laboratory, UNSW Sydney (Australia) | Dec 2022 – Jan 2023

Collaborated on satellite-derived shoreline mapping methods.

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

Studied decades of coastal change along the Portuguese coast using satellite data, with results presented in an interactive web-based visualization.

Competencies & Skills

Professional Skills

Collaboration & Leadership: Work collaboratively towards shared goals within international, multidisciplinary teams. Take a leading role in technical developments and am not afraid to speak up when I have a basis to do so.
Research & Project Delivery: Conduct independent research from proposal to publication while contributing to multi-year international projects with fixed deadlines, such as the EU H2020 CoCliCo project.
Early Adopter: Whether curiosity or a natural drive, understanding where technological developments are heading has been a constant throughout my career.
Analytical Thinking: Translate complex real-world questions into smaller subquestions that can be addressed systematically. A philosophy degree provided what turned out to be one of the most useful skills: distilling the essential from large quantities of information.
Communication & Mentorship: Author of peer-reviewed publications and open educational resources; experience with 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 traditional ML, such as Scikit-learn.
Fieldwork & Instrumentation: Experienced in geological fieldwork (multiple multi-week campaigns in Spain). Hands-on with 12V off-grid power systems, solar charging, lithium batteries, and remote sensor monitoring - skills applicable to field observation setups.

Education

PhD in Coastal Science | Delft University of Technology & Deltares
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 (2026). Living by the coast with accelerating sea-level rise. Doctoral Thesis, TU Delft.
Calkoen et al., (2025). Mapping the world’s coast. ESSD Discussions.
Calkoen et al., (2025). 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 EMMER MSc Thesis Presentation (2019)
Erasmus+ Traineeship Grant (2019)
Erasmus Mundus / MER Consortium Scholarship (2018 & 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.