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Project properties |
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| Title | Politics and Practices of Water Modelling |
| Group | Water Resources Management group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 36 |
| Supervisor(s) | Pieter van Oel, Jaime Hoogesteger and/or Gert Jan Veldwisch |
| Examiner(s) | |
| Contact info | pieter.vanoel@wur.nl, jaime.hoogesteger@wur.nl, gertjan.veldwisch@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2020/01/01 |
| End date | 2022/01/01 |
| Description | Country: various countries
Host institute: various institutes Period: open Problem context Simulation models are often used tools for informing water management decisions, often involving multiple stakeholders, performance indicators and scenarios for possible futures. Such models are often treated and presented as black boxes that generate ‘objective’ data and knowledge to support decision making in water management. The outcomes are sometimes presented as objective ‘truths’ that normalize constructed expert knowledges and models can as such also be understood as ‘truth making’ tools. The flexible nature of most simulation models make them very suitable for manipulating outcomes in line with political preferences. Besides, cherry picking from model outcomes, and highlighting particular results is also easy, but even if processes are not purposefully politicized the models and the ways in which they and their outcomes are used implicitly reflect ingrained normative and political convictions. Research Objective/Question By studying how and by whom such models are used; and by analyzing which actors’ concerns are incorporated or excluded, we aim to open the black box of modelling processes and their performance (see the figure). Another important element of the analysis is to study the interdependencies between these different modelling phases. By providing such insights and thereby opening the modelling ‘black box’, this research aims to contribute to increase transparency and promote democratic water governance processes. What is expected from the student (type of research) This could be shaped as field research in association with a project or organized as a desk research sing secondary sources |
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