Jos van Alphen graduated from Utrecht University, The Netherlands, in Physical Geography in 1983. From 1984 -2010 he was employed at different positions in the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management / Rijkswaterstaat, being responsible for coastal zone management, river management and flood risk management. In 2010 he joined the Delta Programme Commissioners’ staff. As a senior advisor on strategy and knowledge development, he is responsible for knowledge management and development of adaptive strategies for e.g. sea level rise. In this position, he gained experience with long term planning, multi-level governance and joint fact-finding. He shares this knowledge and experience in international cooperation projects with delta communities in Bangladesh, China, Japan, Philippines, USA and most EU countries, and as a member of Ad-hoc Committee on Flood Risk Management Conferences.