• Delft, Netherlands
• Start: July 7th, 2025 - July 11th, 2025
• ECTS Credits: 
• Course fee: 
• Application Deadline: 

Application Coming Soon

Prerequisites

Master’s Degree (or equivalent), and/or minimum of three years of work experience in Water Resources Management, Hydrology, Environmental Science or related field. You will need a good command of the English language, and be highly motivated to participate in round table discussions, debates and working in groups.

Learning Objectives

1. Describe freshwater ecosystem function, management and governance, and the links between climate variability (flood, drought), society, and ecosystems.
2. Identify the spatiotemporal manifestation of water-limited environments and their link to ecosystem sustainability under climate variability and climate change.
3. Assess nature-based solutions, with a focus on environmental flows, stream and floodplain restoration, and enhancing river resiliency, to develop sustainable adaptation strategies that address the increasing challenges of climate variability and declining biodiversity.

Course Content

In this one-week summer school we will cover the following topics:

• Introduction into the challenges of coping with hydrological extremes, in particular floods and droughts under a changing climate, with a focus on the role of ecosystem services. We start with a broad characterisation of global climate variability and climate change and the challenges these pose to the sustainable management of freshwater resources and ecosystems. These challenges will be illustrated through concrete case studies with different climatic, bio-geophysical, and socio-economic settings; including from regions traditionally vulnerable to climate variability and extremes such as California and Southern Africa, as well as from regions such as southern Europe where sustainably managing ecosystem resources is increasingly a challenge due to the changing climate. Participants are encouraged to bring their own examples, challenges, and questions to enrich the discussions and insights into challenges faced in practice.
• Ecosystem services and restoration: We develop a solid foundation of freshwater ecosystem structure and function, the concepts of ecosystem services, and international approaches to river monitoring and management. This is complemented with a foundational introduction to environmental flows, bioassessment, and stream restoration. We build on this knowledge to explore nature-based solutions to support adaptation to climate extremes, including floodplain restoration, managed aquifer recharge, and emerging concepts of green infrastructure and river resiliency.
• Ecosystem governance and policy: Good governance and policies are essential to sustainable management of river ecosystems, particularly under exceptional circumstances such as flood and drought. We explore freshwater resource planning and legal aspects, public policy and regulation, as well as institutional aspects and stakeholder involvement. Through a comparative assessment of ecosystem policies in different countries, we develop insight into different paradigms and understanding of current and best practices.
• Debates, discussions, group work, and field trip: we develop the summer school through a highly participatory approach, where you will actively engage in lectures and case study presentations, and work with other participants from diverse backgrounds debating and discussing the different aspects of sustainably managing freshwater ecosystems in a water-limited world. Throughout the week, you will work as a group to develop a comparative analysis of different global paradigms, resulting in joint presentations. We will also organise a field trip to experience solutions in practice, to have fun, and have the opportunity to interact with fellow participants.