Water Resource Systems

Water resource systems are extremely important both from societal and scientific perspectives. Humans play an important role in water resource systems, by using the resource, impacting on the resource by pollution, managing the resource and being exposed to hazards such as floods. Scientifically, water resource systems are particularly interesting objects of study as they are prime examples for performing multidisciplinary research since the system boundaries span a multitude of intricately linked processes and scales. The topic of water resource systems is thus ideally suited for a Doctoral Programme (DK-plus) where the emphasis is on the networking of various disciplines. The disciplines involved in the proposed DK-plus are hydrology, hydrogeology, water quality science, aquatic microbiology, mechanics of structures, resource management and remote sensing. From a research perspective, the aim of this DK-plus is to better understand complex water resource systems in order to enable more accurate predictions of the quantity and state of future water resources. The systems include natural systems such as aquifers, streams and catchments and anthropogenic systems such as water resource structures (e.g. dams and pipes) and anthropogenic material cycles, and these are strongly coupled. From a curriculum perspective, the aim of the DK-plus is to provide an excellent doctoral education that enables graduates to predict and assess the dynamics of these complex systems in diverse environmental and societal settings. The focus is on the interplay of physical, chemical and biological processes in aquifers and in catchments. The seven specific research topics addressed in this DK-plus are: Stream-aquifer transport modelling; Understanding flood processes at the regional scale; Probabilistic methods for assessing the sustainability of water resource structures; Microbial hazard and risk analysis for water resources management; Anthropogenic metabolism and dissipative flows; Lidar and radar remote sensing of water resources; Transport of nutrients in catchments. Numerous interactions exist between the proposed topics. For example, the hydrogeology theme involves upscaling laboratory scale information from aquatic microbiology to the aquifer scale. Aquatic microbiology will contribute expertise on microbial dynamics in groundwater which will be incorporated into the numerical hydrogeological models to be developed. Interactions of groundwater processes with mechanics of structures will be through experience with numerical methods of complex systems and, in particular, stochastic approaches to be used at the subgrid scale. Remote sensing will provide input on digital elevation models as their accuracy is critically important for representing stream-aquifer interactions in wetlands. The sampling of nutrients in streams and understanding the fate of nutrients by water quality science draws from experience in hydrology and resource management. Major innovative steps include the integration of virus tracer tests at the field scale with laboratory experiments and hydrodynamic modelling to better understand the health risk across the stream-aquifer interface; methods for identifying flood processes across scales in a probabilistic context; probabilistic methods for assessing the sustainability of water resource structures based on stochastic approaches; development of metrics for quantifying dissipation and devaluation phenomena of material fluxes related to water and, more specifically, methods for estimating nutrient fluxes at the regional scale and understanding the uncertainty of the estimates; novel methods of better interpreting lidar response of remotely sensed data based on hydrologic land surface information. Most faculty members have been involved in prior collaborations with other members of the faculty, either through joint research projects or joint university courses, which will facilitate the collaboration within this DK-plus. The international scientific reputation of the faculty members is superb. For example, Prof. Blöschl has published 207 full papers including 82 peer-reviewed journal articles which have been cited more than 1200 times as per the ISI data base, and his H-index is 20. He is or has been an Editor or Associate Editor of eleven major international journals, is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, President of the International Commission on Water Resource Systems, Chair of the UNESCO working group on floods, and Chair of an international initiative on ungauged basins. Prof. Bucher has published 46 peer-reviewed journal papers and Prof. Farnleitner has published 42, half of which have appeared in journals with an ISI impact factor of more than two. Prof. Wagner has published 43 journal papers which have been cited more than 250 times as per the ISI data base and his H-index is 10. All faculty members have been involved in important water resource projects in leading positions. The added value of the DK-plus over individual tutoring comes from the interactions of the doctoral students from different disciplines at a high level of scientific excellence. The interactions will be facilitated by coherence within the DK-plus in at least four respects: (a) In most dissertations within this DK-plus, there are two or three disciplines focusing on the same aquifer or catchment. (b) The interactions across interfaces (e.g. land-water, land- air) are of key interest in all dissertations. (c) A cross cutting theme on risk assessment in water resource systems will provide an additional tier of cross-fertilisation across the disciplines for which a postdoctoral fellow is proposed. The postdoc will significantly contribute to enhancing the quality of the dissertation projects by exposure of the doctoral students to unifying concepts of risk, additional in-depth analyses of their data and additional input to their dissertation projects by providing risk levels and uncertainty assessments among others. (d) A training programme for all students has been tailored to the specific requirements of this DK-plus. The scientific training programme consists of a basic study programme that will bring all students to a similarly high level of understanding water resource systems, block courses from top international scientists, and an advanced study programme which will give students an in-depth understanding of water resource systems and convey advanced scientific methods to explore these systems at a high scientific level. An additional training programme of workshops will provide key qualifications and generic skills (e.g. presentation skills, project management skills). Journal clubs and annual DK-plus symposia will foster the interaction among students and create an atmosphere of intellectual excitement. The structured supervision and mentoring programme involves a one-on-one mentoring concept, co-supervision by one or two top international scientists, regular write ups (including a thesis proposal in the first semester and progress reports), development of writing skills during the preparation of journal publications, and a focus on group learning. The group learning effect is significantly strengthened by also admitting 14 associated students to this DK-plus (in addition to the 7 doctoral students applied for at the FWF) for which funding is provided by the faculty members through additional projects. In the training and supervision programme particular emphasis is given to international networking by providing the block courses, a guest scientist programme, facilitating a one semester research period at one of the attractive international partner institutions, and introducing the students to leading researchers around the world which will be facilitated by the excellent international connections of the faculty members. The profile of the graduates will make them very well prepared to understand complex water resource systems, including the effects of human activities. They will have the ability to predict and assess the dynamics of such systems in diverse environmental and societal settings, including the interactions and feedbacks of various processes and system components. All graduates will have an excellent in-depth understanding in their particular research area and a very good understanding of related subjects and the interactions involved. They will fare very well on the international job market in academia, industry and administration because of their technical expertise of the highest standards, their truly interdisciplinary research approach, extremely high motivation, brilliant international networking and their generic skills. The TU Wien is strongly committed to this DK-plus programme and hence provides very substantial contributions. The in-kind commitment of TU Wien is about 250 000 per year (including dedicated office space for 14 students), the in-cash commitment is 105 000 per year (including salary for 2 associated doctoral students - totalling 1.26 million in cash over a period of 12 years) and there are funding opportunities for equipment and guest researchers which have been estimated at an additional 35 000 per year. The commitment of TU Wien also includes an array of tangible infrastructure, such as laboratory and computing equipment, and intangible infrastructure such as providing a host of services (including a gender programme and career development services) and a high profile environment to integrate this DK-plus in terms of research and teaching. A wide range of visibility and dissemination activities are planned to maximise the impact of this DK-plus at the university, national and international scales. Both the high profile of the faculty members and the innovative interdisciplinary research programme will be very attractive for international students. The tailored training programme will produce graduates with superb technical and social skills, enabling them to solve complex water related problems and succeed in the international research arena.