Charles Zogheib

Polycentric water resources assessment and governance in data scarce regions

Started: October 2016

Supervisor: Dr Wouter Buytaert; Dr Ana Mijic

Descriptoin of Research

As an applied science, civil and environmental engineering operate within a context of industry adoption and policy application. The latter is particularly important for water resources because of the nature of water as a public good and service in many countries. This PhD project is concerned with the question of how the science-policy interface in water resources functions and how it can be strengthened and made more efficient. It will focus in particular on how policy scenarios can be captured into quantitative simulation models, and evaluated to generate robust and relevant knowledge to support policy decisions. The project will use the Peruvian Andes as a case study, as it is a global hotspot in terms of the complexity of water resources and related management. The region combines severe water scarcity with multiple stressors including climate change, land-use change, and degradation of water quality, as well as a fast-changing topology of water demand.