News ‒ CHANGE ‐ EPFL

Unlocking local knowledge for global water reanalysis

Published:13.03.26 — A new international project funded by Schmidt Sciences aims to transform how local water knowledge contributes to global water system models. The initiative will develop new frameworks and tools to integrate citizen observations, volunteer monitoring, and local expertise into global water reanalysis efforts.

Interactive effects of soil texture, soil structure and external drivers on soil properties and state variables (light-yellow). From Verhoef et al. (2026).

New publication: Rethinking soils in land surface models

Published:11.03.26 — A new paper summarizing the outcomes of the ISMC-GEWEX SoilWat 2025 meeting outlines key challenges and future directions for representing soils and subsurface processes in weather and climate models.

From Lian et al., 2025 - Modeled erosion and deposition patterns under different mean annual rainfall (MAR) and rainfall temporal variability scenarios (Gini index, G).

How does rainfall temporal variability shape landscape evolution?

Published:15.12.25 — A new study led by PhD student Taiqi Lian reveals that not just how much rain falls, but how it falls over time, plays a critical role in shaping landscapes and controlling sediment erosion. These findings, published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, provide new tools to anticipate the geomorphic impacts of increasingly variable rainfall under climate change

CHANGE at the 23rd Swiss Geoscience Meeting in Bern!

Published:08.12.25 — Taiqi, Filippo, Felix, and Fred presented our work on T&C-BG-2D, wetland ecogeomorphology, and the SMART-AGRI and SOCscape projects!

Massimiliano Lippa joins the lab!

Published:06.11.25 — Max just joined CHANGE as a visiting PhD student. He will work on drounght impacts on viticulture! Welcome Max!

For her master’s project, Juliette Salles wanted to project into the unknown future. 2025 EPFL/Alain Herzog - CC-BY-SA 4.0

Will corn still be a worthwhile crop in Europe in 2100?

Published:29.10.25 — Juliette Salles set out to answer this question for her EPFL master’s project in environmental sciences and engineering. The project was a perfect fit for the recent graduate, who enjoys gleaning insights from data and believes in conducting research with a purpose.

Conceptual diagram showing the structure of the T&C‐BG‐2D model and the main ecohydrological and soil biogeochemical processes included (from Lian et al., 2025)

T&C-BG-2D: a new model to describe spatial carbon/nutrient patterns

Published:29.09.25 — A recent article, led by PhD student Taiqi Lian and published in Water Resources Research, introduces a novel modeling framework to assess spatial patterns of soil carbon and nutrient dynamics in landscapes of complex topography!

Career Development Workshop

Published:09.09.25 — On September 8th, before the ENAC Research Day, the ENAC Diversity Office organised the 1st edition of the Career Development Workshop aimed at Doctoral Students and Postdocs.

Taiqi Lian as ISMC Featured Soil Modeler!

Published:08.08.25 — Take a look at Taiqi's interview as August 2025 Featured Soil Modeler by the Iinternational Soil Modeling Consortium (ISMC)!

© 2025 EPFL - From left to right: Z. Zhang (ICL), R. Gu (ICL), S. Bonetti (EPFL), J. Buckley-Paules (ICL), F. Bauer (EPFL), D. Bartley (ICL), A. Paschalis (UCY, ICL), Q. Sun (EPFL)

Ecohydrological modeling workshop in Cyprus!

Published:05.08.25 — An exciting week at the University of Cyprus discussing ecohydrological modeling and future plans for our SNSF SMART-AGRI project!

© https://www.gewexevents.org/meetings/ismc-soilwat2025/

CHANGE Lab at the ISMC – GEWEX SoilWat Meeting 2025

Published:19.07.25 — Taiqi presented our work on assessing the role of topography and small-scale soil features in catchment-scale ecohydrological processes.

Bejamin Kargère starts his PhD at CHANGE!

Published:18.07.25 — CHANGE has a new PhD student – after completing his master thesis in our lab, Ben started his PhD journey!

The SOCscape field campaign kicks off in the Swiss Alps!

Published:18.07.25 — With the beginning of the summer season, Fred has started the field campaign in Val d'Arolla and Vallon the Nant as part of the SNSF-funded project SOCscape (assessing soil carbon dynamics in landscapes of complex topography).

CHANGE Lab showcases FRAME protocol at ORD workshop

Published:20.06.25 — Felix presented our work on applying FAIR principles to hybrid models.

CHANGE Lab at the 2025 Pint of Science Lausanne!

Published:22.05.25 — In a night dedicated to food and sustainability, Sara gave a talk on sustainable agriculture… and its many shades of green!

First SOCscape project meeting in Sion!

Published:19.05.25 — The first in-person meeting of the SOCscape project project took place at ALPOLE on 19.05.2025 – a lot of interesting and engaging discussions on soil carbon dynamics in Alpine landscapes!

From Reinecke et al., 2025 - https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.70025

Review on global water models uncertainties published in WIREs Water

Published:08.05.25 — Global water models allow us to explore the terrestrial water cycle in Earth-sized digital laboratories. In our review, we identify primary sources of uncertainties and discuss how they can guide future model development.