PhD project title: Multi-scale water resources planning in England and Wales
Supervisors: Richard Blackwell (Water Resources West), Jaime Amezaga, Elizabeth Lewis, and Chris Kilsby (Newcastle University)
CDT: WIRe
My PhD focuses on evaluating the importance of scale in water resources planning following the establishment of regional and national planning alongside company-scale planning. Under the guidance of Richard Blackwell, director of Water Resources West (WRW), I have gained valuable insights into the practical implementation of multi-scale planning through:
- interviewing key actors involved in inter-regional reconciliation,
- attending weekly WRW decision-making meetings,
- running lessons learned workshops with regional leads,
- attending placements with United Utilites water company and with a consultant involved in managing the inter-regional reconciliation process, and
- reviewing and analysing documentation.
Being embedded in the planning cycle across multiple scales has allowed for an in-depth analysis and reporting of the process with the ultimate aim of producing recommendations for the next phase and future planning, taking insights across disciplines including institutional analysis, collaborative planning, and decision analysis.
