Emerging outcomes from a cross-disciplinary doctoral programme on water resource systems

Friday, September 15, 2017 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

As part of the Water Institute WaterTalks lecture series, with Günter Blöschl, head of the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management and professor of Hydrology and Water Resources at Vienna University of Technology, will be presenting "Emerging outcomes from a cross-disciplinary doctoral programme on water resource systems."

Register today.

Coffee and light refreshments provided.

This talk will be Livestreamed for those who cannot attend in person. 

More information 

Most real problems in water resources science and engineering require cross-disciplinary approaches. Similarly, most relevant science questions are cross-disciplinary. The Vienna Doctoral Programme on Water Resource Systems is aimed at researching complex water resource systems. Interaction between the disciplines, international networking, a tailor-made training program and high-quality mentoring are key priorities of the Programme. Since its start in 2009, 52 international doctoral students have been enrolled and to date, 26 have graduated. 

This WaterTalk will briefly review the strategy of achieving the goal of interdisciplinary research in the Programme. On the basis of the Programme, the presentation will explore (i) whether cross-disciplinary research leads to more innovative scientific findings than monodisciplinary research, (ii) whether cross-disciplinary researchers develop professional skills that benefit the future careers of students, and (iii) whether cross-disciplinary research produces findings of greater societal relevance than monodisciplinary. 

Examples of research outcomes from the Programme will be given to illustrate the nature of the collaboration.

Speaker bio

Günter Blöschl is the director of the Centre for Water Resource Systems at the Vienna University of Technology, as well as chair of the Vienna Doctoral Programme on Water Resource Systems. 

He has received numerous honours during his career including election as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the German Academy of Science and Engineering (Acatech), and the International Water Academy. Recently, he was awarded the Advanced Grant of the European Research Council (ERC). 

His research interests include: 

  • Hydrological simulation and modelling, runoff models, spatially distributed hydrological models and stochastic methods.
  • Catchment hydrology including scale issues, flow and transport processes, floods and droughts, soil moisture, snow, and hydrological measurements.
  • Water resources management: risk analysis, flood forecasting, uncertainty assessment, climate change impacts, hydrologic change, and socio-hydrology.
  • Regional estimation, predictions in ungauged basins, geostatistical methods and Geographic Information Systems.