Contact: maria.pyrina@unibe.ch
Professional Profile:
Maria Pyrina is a postdoctoral researcher in Daniela Domeisen’s group at ETH Zurich (2021–2026), which included an appointment at UNIL (2023–2024) for the HEATaware project. In May 2024, she joined the Forecast and Services Department at ECMWF as a Scientist. In March 2026, she transitioned to the University of Bern, where she currently works as a Data Manager in the Climate Epidemiology and Public Health group, at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM).
Research and Technical Expertise:
Maria Pyrina has a scientific background in physics and atmospheric sciences. She has contributed to the Destination Earth initiative at ECMWF, focusing on process-based verification of surface variables in kilometre-scale global forecasts, including both numerical weather prediction (NWP) and AI-driven models. During her postdoctoral career at ETH Zurich and CSCS Zurich, she investigated remote drivers of extreme temperature and drought events, assessed deterministic and ensemble forecast skill, and developed AI algorithms for subseasonal to seasonal weather and climate prediction, as well as for forecast downscaling over Switzerland. She also contributed to the transdisciplinary project HEATaware (University of Lausanne) on predicting heat-related mortality by coupling a statistical temperature-mortality model to extended-range temperature forecasts. Her PhD research centered on the application of statistical methods to reconstruct paleoclimate conditions over the last millennium, alongside evaluations of CMIP simulations and paleoclimate models.
Key Expertise Areas:
- Impact-based forecasting, including subseasonal prediction of climate-related risks (e.g., heat-related mortality) for early warning applications
- Development of statistical and AI-based weather and climate forecasts
- Forecast verification and diagnostics for NWP and AI forecasts
- Atmospheric Predictability for short-range, medium-range, and subseasonal predictions
- Extreme events (e.g., heatwaves, droughts) verification in km-scale global forecasts
Career background:
March 2026 – present: Data Manager at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), group of Climate Epidemiology and Public Health
June 2024 – May 2026: Scientist at the Forecast and Services Department at ECMWF
August 2023 – February 2024: Postdoctoral researcher at UNIL (University of Lausanne), Group of Atmospheric processes
February 2021 – July 2026: Postdoctoral researcher at IAC, ETH Zurich, Group of Atmospheric predictability
August 2017 – December 2020: Postdoctoral researcher at Helmholtz-Zentrum HEREON, Group of Climate Extremes and Impacts April 2014 – July 2017: Early career scientist (Marie Curie Fellowship) at Helmholtz-Zentrum HEREON, Group of Paleoclimate and Statistics and PhD student at the University of Hamburg, Department of Earth System Sciences
Publications: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4890-0732