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Projects on Resilience Themes

Drought and water scarcity Projects

There are numerous projects and initiatives supporting the resilience to weather extremes and water scarcity at the University of Twente, many of them in collaboration with other public and private sector partners. Listed below are a number of current projects.  

Project / Initiative 

UT FACULTy* / department and contact

Thirsty Cities: Action-perspectives for a climate-proof, drought-resilient, and water-sensitive built environment.  Lead Partner: Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. (Funded by NWO-NWA 2024-2028)

ET - Civil Engineering & Management (CEM) 
Contact: Dr. Lara Wöhler, ET)


DISCO – Digital Solutions for Climate Adaptation:  The aim of the project is to develop support mechanisms to accelerate climate adaptation with a focus on drinking water, waste water and stormwater in our cities and regions. Lead Partner: Municipality of Zwolle. (Funded by Interreg North Sea 2024-2028)

BMS - Governance and Technology for Sustainability (CSTM)
Contact: Dr. Cesar Casiano Flores (BMS)

Game-based approaches for drought resilience in the Eastern Netherlands – a valuing water perspective:  Recognizing the multiple values that water has to different groups and interests, the project uses stakeholder insights together with serious gaming to help strengthen drought resilience in the region (UTwente ET Grant with support from Vitens N.V, Vechtstromen Water Authority and Twents Waternet, 2024-2028)

ET -  Design, Production & Management and Civil Engineering & Management
Contact:  Dr. Lara Wöhler (ET)

COMBINEDCombatting biodiversity loss and improving climate change resilience through evidence-based, integrated, and adaptive landscape governance in the Netherlands .  Partners: UTwente (Lead), Utrecht University, Wageningen University & Research Institute, Has-Green Academy. Project website in development. (funded by NWA, 2024-2030. Start: September 2024)

 ITC - Dept. of Natural Resources and BMS - Governance and Technology for Sustainability (CSTM) and Knowledge, Transformation, and Society (KiTeS), 
Contact: Prof. Wieteke Willemen (ITC)

SpongeWorks - Co-creating and Upscaling Sponge Landscapes by Working with Natural Water Retention and Sustainable Management; Partners: Deltares (lead), UTwente, Leibniz University Hannover, IIASA, Vechtstromen and others. (Horizon Europe, 4 year project will start September 2024)

ET - Integrated Project Management, Civil Engineering & Management with Design, Production and Management (1 PhD); Designlab;
and BMS - Governance and Technology for Sustainability 
Contact: Dr. Joanne Vinke - de Kruijf (ET)

Adapt! - Security in Open Societies (SOSproject will radically advance the current state of knowledge, insights, tools, and strategies that can boost the ability of citizens, frontline professionals, and policymakers to collectively address three types of crises: pandemic-related,  violent extremism, and disasters such as floods and earthquakes, Lead: Utrecht University (NWO Zwartekracht - begins in 2025)

BMS - Psychology of Conflict and Security and BMS - Public Adminstration
Contact: Prof. Ellen Geibels (BMS)

GOVAQUA - Governance innovations for a transition to sustainable and equitable water use in Europe: The project identifies the good practices related to legislation and regulation, multi-stakeholder participation and collaboration, economic and financial instruments, and digital solutions for information sharing. Lead Partner: Finnish Environment Institute (FI)  
(Horizon Europe and UKRI 2023-27)

BMS - Governance and Technology for Sustainability (CSTM)
UT Contact: Dr. Gül Özerol (BMS)


Photo: A. UijtewaalVechte Basin Scoping Study DE-NL 2024 : This pilot is cross-boundary study examining droughts, flood risk, water supply, demand and resources; infrastructure to manage floods and water shortages; transboundary water management. Vecht NL-DE basin. A follow-up in-depth study will be drawing lessons from approaches to adaptation and management. Lead: Deltares

ET - Integrated Project Management, Civil Engineering & Management and ITC - Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-Information Management. DE Partner: Osnabrueck University
Contact: Dr. Joanne Vinke - de Kruijf (ET)

Photo: A. UijtewaalThe DIWA project  is developing a cross-border drought approach for transboundary Vechte River basin with a focus on governance, resilience assessment, impact assessment, scenarios and pathways. Lead: Vechtstromen Water Authority with German and Dutch government agencies and the UT. Website in development. (Interreg DE-NL 2024-28)  

ET - Civil Engineering & Management (CEM) and BMS - Governance and Technology for Sustainability (CSTM)
Contact: Dr. Lara Wöhler, ET)

 WE-ACT - Water Efficient Allocation in a Central Asian Transboundary River Basin: The project aims to set a new standard for sustainable transboundary water allocation in Central Asia, by introducing a data-driven Decision Support System (DSS) that optimizes benefits and enhances resilience in the face of a rapidly changing climate (Horizion Europe project, 2023-2027).  Lead: Technical University of Munich (TUM) 

 ET - MWM Multidisciplinary Water Management
Contact: Dr. Rick Hogeboom (ET)

Dense and highly stable polyelectrolyte multilayer membranes for brackish water treatment: extracting potable water from this brackish water using advanced water treatment technologies. (Funding: NX Filtration, TKI Chemistry, 2023- 27)

S&T - Membrane Science and Technology
Contact: Prof. Wiebe de Vos (S&T)

CASTOR: Dutch Pleistocene landscapes in the Anthropocene is a project envisioning integral pathways to climate-robust landscapes and thus support regional adaptation strategies in southern and eastern Netherlands. CASTOR pursues nature-based approaches to developing climate-resilient land and water systems (Funding: NWO 2021-26; Partners: WUR (lead), TUD and UT).

BMS - Governance and Technology for Sustainability (CSTM) 
Contact: Dr. Kris Lulofs  (BMS)

SALTISolutions logoSALTISolutions: Guaranteeing freshwater with a virtual delta (Rhine-Meuse Delta):  Investigates how, when and where salt from seawater penetrates inland in river deltas, and provides insights into potential measures, including nature-based solutions, to reduce the intrusion of saltwater in freshwater. More than 30 partners. Co-leads: Rijkswaterstaat, TU Delft, Deltares, Royal Haskoning DHV solutions for the decrease in freshwater due to the penetration of salt from sea water. (NWO)

ET - Human-Centred Design
Contact: Dr. Robert-Jan den Haan (ET)

WUNDER –Water Use and Drought Ecohydrological Responses of Agricultural and Nature Ecosystems in the Netherlands  The project examines the behaviour of soil and vegetation during prolonged drought events. Through integrated modelling they will be able to explore scenarios and evaluate strategies for managing, planning and adapting agriculture and natural systems to extreme droughts (NWO 2022-2026)

ITC - Water Resources Department (Lead) 
More information and Contact 

4TU Green Sensors Programme: Green and Biodegradable soil sensor systems for future smart agriculture  Using sensors, water and nutrient content in the soil can be measured as well as the precise scheduling for harvesting crops. (Funded by 4TU High Tech for a Sustainable Future)

EEMCS Radio Systems group
Contact:  Dr.  A.B.J. Kokkeler 

Water management and savings on the UT campus: The university itself also gives priority to efficient water consumption, rainwater collection and wastewater recycling with the aim of becoming a water neutral campus in 2030.

Campus Facility Management (Service)
More info and contact

Podcast Integrated Water Management: A series for the UT's Masters study programme, Water Engineering and Management, focusing on cases of water scarcity and drought around the world and how water in these regions can be better managed. Produced by Lara Wöhler.

ET - Civil Engineering and Management (CEM)
Contact: Dr. Lara Wöhler


* Faculties: Behavioural, Management and Social sciences (BMS); Engineering Technology (ET); Science and Technology (S&T); Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS); Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC)

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