Neue Wege in der interdisziplinären Fließgewässerforschung – Vorstellung des FWF-Doktoratsprogramms „Industrialisierte Flusslandschaften“ im Rahmen der Doktoratsschule HR21 an der BOKU Wien
摘要
Most of the world’s rivers are shaped by interacting social and natural processes. As Industrialised Riverine Landscapes (IRLs), they have become part of our critical infrastructure, vital for the water-energy-food nexus, but also subject to extreme events and vulnerable to biodiversity loss in the wake of global change. This situation poses major challenges for the management of river landscapes and urgently requires an interdisciplinary approach that integrates natural, social and engineering sciences to analyse the causes and trajectories of river system change and to provide the basis for future management options. The doctoral programme IRL builds on the research framework of the doctoral school “HR21—Human Rivers in the 21st century” (hr21.boku.ac.at) at BOKU University and is based on the common conceptual foundation of coupled socio-ecohydrological systems (SEHS). Within the framework of doctoral projects, the causes of change are identified and possible future scenarios are developed. Research on rivers as SEHS provides new insights into the co-evolution of nature and society. The programme IRL is organised in four research clusters based on key system dimensions in current river and sustainability science: (1) Connectivity, (2) Governance and Planning, (3) Metabolism and (4) Vulnerability. The interdisciplinary work, which combines the research of faculty members, international experts and doctoral students, is intended to provide a comprehensive understanding of the coupling of natural and social systems. Three research fields, which represent pressing current challenges in riverine landscapes, form the thematic focus of 15 PhD projects: (1) extreme events, (2) infrastructure and urbanisation and (3) the water-energy-food nexus.