On 20 September 2023, Margreet Zwarteveen (IHE Delft & University of Amsterdam) and Tobias Krüger (HU Berlin) will talk about hydrological modelling, critical water research and interdisciplinary collaborations in a public evening conversation at the Grimm-Zentrum of HU Berlin.

Is hydrological modelling political?

20 September 2023, 19.00-20.30
HU Berlin, Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum, Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 3, 10117 Berlin, Auditorium

Fostering sustainable and just water distributions is one of the main challenges of the Anthropocene. Hydrological modelling is becoming ever more central in understanding and predicting water flows. The outcomes of hydrological models, in turn, may inform water management decisions. Hydrological models, therefore, are more than mere attempts to accurately represent changing water realities; they also interfere in and co-produce these realities. In this sense, they can be understood as political.

In this evening conversation, Tobias Krüger and Margreet Zwarteveen will exchange experiences, reflections and challenges about doing and critically researching hydrological modelling and more broadly water governance. What does it mean to attend to the politics of modelling? What role do modelers and researchers/academics more in general play in shaping water futures?

With:

Margreet Zwarteveen is Professor of Water Governance at IHE Delft and the University of Amsterdam;Tobias Krüger is Professor of Hydrology and Society at the Geography Department and IRI THESys, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

The conversation will be moderated by Rossella Alba, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Geography Department and IRI THESys, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin.

The public event is part of a week-long PhD Summer School on ‘Situating hydrological modelling’ hosted by IRI THESys. During the summer school, a group of 25 international early career researchers take up the challenge to work on and reflect about modelling water, bringing together hydrological research and science and technology studies.