Coupling human and engineered systems for effective water management
Event details
| Date | 27.05.2014 |
| Hour | 16:15 › 17:15 |
| Speaker | Dr Nadja Kunz, Environmental Social Sciences, EAWAG, Duebendorf, CH |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Abstract:
Integrated and systemic approaches are increasingly promoted to achieve desirable outcomes in water systems; however implementation poses a challenge because it often requires coordination between diverse actors with competing priorities. For example, water catchments extend across political boundaries, while different organisational departments share responsibilities for water reticulation through industrial sites. This presentation will demonstrate the importance of understanding the complexities of both human and engineered systems. It will highlight how outcomes from a recent PhD project – which combined social network analysis and systems modelling methods through an in-depth empirical case study – have assisted the case study mining site in achieving a more integrated approach to water management. Opportunities for extending this research to other contexts will be discussed, including urban water systems that are also characterised by high complexity in both human and engineered dimensions.
Short biography:
Dr Nadja Kunz is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Science and Technology, working with Prof Janet Hering and Prof Karin Ingold. She has a dual degree in Chemical Engineering (Honours Class I) and Business Management from the University of Queensland, and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Engineering that was completed under the supervision of Prof Chris Moran (Sustainable Minerals Institute) and Dr Tim Kastelle (UQ Business School). Nadja has engineering experience across a range of industrial sites, and has a particular interest in connecting the tactical and strategic aspects of water and sustainability management.
Integrated and systemic approaches are increasingly promoted to achieve desirable outcomes in water systems; however implementation poses a challenge because it often requires coordination between diverse actors with competing priorities. For example, water catchments extend across political boundaries, while different organisational departments share responsibilities for water reticulation through industrial sites. This presentation will demonstrate the importance of understanding the complexities of both human and engineered systems. It will highlight how outcomes from a recent PhD project – which combined social network analysis and systems modelling methods through an in-depth empirical case study – have assisted the case study mining site in achieving a more integrated approach to water management. Opportunities for extending this research to other contexts will be discussed, including urban water systems that are also characterised by high complexity in both human and engineered dimensions.
Short biography:
Dr Nadja Kunz is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Science and Technology, working with Prof Janet Hering and Prof Karin Ingold. She has a dual degree in Chemical Engineering (Honours Class I) and Business Management from the University of Queensland, and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Engineering that was completed under the supervision of Prof Chris Moran (Sustainable Minerals Institute) and Dr Tim Kastelle (UQ Business School). Nadja has engineering experience across a range of industrial sites, and has a particular interest in connecting the tactical and strategic aspects of water and sustainability management.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
- This event is internal
Organizer
- EESS - IIE
Contact
- Prof. Janet Hering, Director, EAWAG, Switzerland