Ahmad’s research will focus on developing a better understanding of drivers that will affect future water availability (spatially and temporally) as well as their consequences on crop production under uncertain climate change and increased population. The study also envisages the impacts of climate extremes (heat waves, wet/dry conditions etc.) on crop yields and quality, including identifying adaptation options for implementation at a basin scale to adapt to exacerbated water situations. She will apply a basin scale Hydrology–Agriculture model under the framework of the Dynamical Global Vegetation Model (DGVM) considering the share of water from all possible sources (e.g. shallow/deep groundwater, water from reservoirs, snow/glacier melt water, etc.) with improved irrigation efficiencies to produce sufficient crop yield to feed an increasing population demand under unavoidable climatic and other non-climatic circumstances.

Previously, Ahmad was associated with the Water Resources and Glaciology Division of Global Change Impact Studies Centre (GCISC), Climate Change Division, Government of Pakistan, where she studied the impacts of climate change on Pakistan’s fresh water resources in order to develop adequate adaptation measures to manage water resources efficiently. She holds a Masters in Applied Physics from the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore, Pakistan.