The skilful networker

Bettina Schaefli developed an early interest in hydrological modelling and has since built an impressive career: Since 2019, she has been a full professor at the University of Bern, heading the OCCR Hydrology Group. She also serves as President of the Swiss Hydrological Commission and is a member of the SNSF National Research Council.

Her 2005 doctoral thesis remains highly relevant today. Bettina Schaefli earned her doctorate with a groundbreaking study on the effects of climate change on hydropower production - the first model-based study in this field. Her dissertation at the EPFL in Lausanne has profoundly shaped her Schaefli's academic career and significantly influenced hydrological research in Switzerland. Over time, the topic gained in urgency, while the methods for modelling climate impacts have evolved. “When I started modelling,” she explains, “there were initial attempts to purely data-based modelling, but the mathematical theories behind them were challenging to implement.” Advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and open-source programming have transformed the field. “We are currently entering a phase in which all researchers can simply create new data-based models,” Schaefli observes. In her words, “a new toolbox” is revolutionizing her discipline.

Water data: A Hidden Resource

Despite methodological advancements, a critical challenge remains in hydrology: “We are constrained by lack of measurement data,” Schaefli points out. Several factors contribute to this shortfall. For instance, scientists often lack the financial resources to equip an entire catchment area of a mountain stream with measuring sensors. And from a research perspective, far too little data is generally collected on hydropower production. This has implications for policy debates, such as discussions on reducing residual water volumes to generate additional electricity from hydropower. Schaefli firmly opposes such proposals. “From an ecological perspective, the current residual water volumes are already at a minimum, and the potential increase in production is marginal,” she argues. However, the precise impact is difficult to quantify. “Hydropower producers often don't know exactly how much water their catchment areas produce,” she explains, and much of the data they collect is considered confidential by the energy companies, inaccessible to the scientific community.

Switzerland not only faces significant knowledge gaps regarding the availibity of water, the situation is no better when it comes to consumption. For example, only a few cantons have reliable data on agricultural irrigation. This issue is not unique to Switzerland. “In Europe, only countries that have experienced prolonged water shortages consistently measure consumption,” says hydrologist Schaefli. An astonishing fact when you consider that drought is one of the most widespread consequences of climate change.

Success Through EGU Engagement

Even among researchers, openness about sharing information can be limited. In contrast to the climate research community, there is still relatively little collaboration in hydrological modelling. “Each group tends to work with its own models, and data sets that are easily accessible to the public have only recently become available,’ Schaefli notes, a situation that surprises outsiders.

Overall, Bettina Schaefli has found her research community to be very favourable, namely in the European Geoscience Union EGU. Even as a young researcher, she not only took part in conferences, but also helped to organise EGU events herself and thus built up an international network. “Without my involvement in the EGU,” she says looking back, “I would never have been able to build my scientific career.” Specifically, the contacts she made at the EGU, where she was one of the few women twenty years ago, resulted in job offers for her years of travelling as a scientist. Bettina Schaefli later chaired the EGU's Catchment Hydrology subdivision and was editor of the journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences for many years.

Challenges for Women in Science

Today, her commitment to the EGU is limited to its hydrology blog, of which she is the executive editor. In her own blog posts, she addresses topics of general scientific interest, such as the role of socially engaged researchers or the situation of women in science - a contribution, she says, that many male colleagues would not have found so great. Schaefli wrote about how her own career was lined with sexist slogans and jokes and how female doctoral students today complain that young colleagues are not interested in a scientific discussion at poster presentations, but only in a date.

Schaefli says that she did not pursue her scientific career with any particular determination. You could almost get the impression that things just happened that way - including the decision to start a family. With her first child, caring for him and working at EPFL went hand in hand without any problems. Which is why the family now has three children. You hardly notice the difficulties of this multiple burden on the professor, who works with an 80 per cent workload. “Nothing should ever go wrong in a well-organised everyday life,” she says, “then career and family are manageable.”

(November 2024)