Regulate – Nachhaltiges Management von Grundwasser in Europa
Die Nachwuchsgruppe regulate untersucht unter der Leitung des ISOE aktuelle Herausforderungen im Management von Grundwasser in Europa vor dem Hintergrund akuter Trockenheit, qualitativer Belastungen, zunehmender Konflikte und komplexer institutioneller Rahmenbedingungen. Das Team aus Wissenschaftler*innen der Natur- und Sozialwissenschaften erarbeitet Lösungsstrategien für einen nachhaltigen Umgang mit der Ressource Grundwasser auf unterschiedlichen Governance-Ebenen.
Die Gruppe untersucht, auf welche Art und Weise Grundwasserkörper in Europa beeinträchtigt werden – aus hydrologischer, geographischer, ethnologischer und ökologischer Perspektive. Dabei erforscht das Projekt Telekopplungen, also Fernwirkungen, die lokal zu Problemen von Qualität und Verfügbarkeit führen, die ihren Ursprung allerdings in sozioökonomischen und politischen Verflechtungen in anderen Regionen haben. In diesen Fernwirkungen nimmt das Projekt insbesondere die Nitratbelastung sowie Dürren in den Blick und analysiert Konflikte, Normen und Werte im Umgang mit der unsichtbaren Ressource Grundwasser.
Vier Promotions- und zwei Postdoc-Forschungsprojekte sind in das übergeordnete Forschungsthema “Telekopplung in sozial-ökologischen Systemen” integriert. Alle Mitglieder der Gruppe arbeiten in interdisziplinären Teams und in transdisziplinärer Zusammenarbeit mit Stakeholdern in Fallstudien Europas, um lokal neues Wissen zu generieren und daraus übergreifende Rückschlüsse für ein angepasstes Management zu ziehen. Die Forschungsgruppe ist am ISOE in Frankfurt angesiedelt und arbeitet eng mit der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt und der Universität Koblenz-Landau zusammen. Sie wird vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) als Teil des sozial-ökologischen Forschungsrahmens der FONA gefördert.
Zeitraum
September 2020 – August 2025
Finanzierung
Die Nachwuchsgruppe wird vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) im Rahmen des Programms “Forschung für nachhaltige Entwicklungen (FONA)” gefördert. In FONA gehört “regulate” zum Förderkonzept “SOEF – Sozial-ökologische Forschung” innerhalb der Fördermaßnahme “Nachwuchsgruppen Sozial-ökologische Forschung”.
Nachwuchsgruppe
Die Nachwuchsforschungsgruppe besteht aus sechs Mitgliedern mit unterschiedlichen fachlichen Hintergründen. Dr. Fanny Frick-Trzebitzky und Dr. Robert Lütkemeier leiten die Gruppe und arbeiten an ihren Habilitationen, während Anne Jäger, David Kuhn, Dženeta Hodžić und Linda Söller als Doktorandinnen und Doktoranden ihre individuellen Dissertationen bearbeiten.
Fanny is a research fellow at ISOE, specializing in water governance. She holds a PhD in Geography from King’s College London and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. In her PhD thesis and as a research assistant at the Institute of Geography at Humboldt-University of Berlin, she investigated institutions and social inequalities in access to water and adaptation to flooding using the example of Accra (Ghana). Prior to this, she worked at the Ecologic Institute in Berlin. She studied environmental planning in Munich, Morelia (Mexico) and London. Within regulate, Fanny researches social aspects of groundwater regulation in Europe.
As a research fellow at ISOE, Robert specializes in numerical water demand modelling. He received his doctorate in geography at the University of Bonn on the subject of drought risk and vulnerability in Namibia and Angola. Besides qualitative interview techniques and quantitative spatial analyses (GIS), Robert applies non-linear modelling techniques (e.g., multiple linear regression and artificial neural networks) to investigate water use characteristics, especially focusing on their spatial and temporal patterns. In regulate, Robert explores the diverse sectoral groundwater uses in Europe with a particular focus on remote effects (telecouplings) between regions.
Anne Jäger is a PhD candidate in the 'Molecular Ecology' working group, University Koblenz-Landau. For her B.Sc. in Biology at Free University Berlin and as student assistant at Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), she focused on macroinvertebrate based lake shore assessments. She holds a Master’s degree in International Studies in Aquatic Tropical Ecology from the University Bremen. For her thesis she worked at Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) on collective action in Costa Rican fisheries' communities. Within regulate, Anne investigates anthropogenic stressors and their impacts on groundwater ecosystems.
David is a research fellow at ISOE, specializing in groundwater governance. After obtaining his B.A. in political science at Free University of Berlin, he completed the interdisciplinary master’s programme Sustainable Development (M.Sc.) at Utrecht University (Netherlands) with a focus on the governance of social-ecological systems. For his master thesis, he investigated success factors for transdisciplinary knowledge production in water reuse. In regulate, David researches conflicts, power relations and inequalities in the use and regulation of groundwater by applying policy, discourse and stakeholder analysis.
Dženeta is a research fellow at ISOE specializing in water governance and ethnographic research on groundwater and policies. She holds a B.A. and M.A. in European Ethnology from Humboldt University Berlin. For her MA thesis, she conducted long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where she studied the entanglement of renewable energy policies, socio-technical imaginaries and environmental knowledge. Within regulate, Dženeta ethnographically investigates underlying cultural dimensions of groundwater extraction practices in two European case studies.
Linda is a PhD-candidate in the working group Hydrology at the Institute of Physical Geography, Goethe-University. She holds a M.Sc. in Physical Geography from Goethe-University with a focus on global freshwater resources and biodiversity and their modification through climate change and human interventions. In her thesis, she investigated anthropogenic streamflow alterations and their impact on freshwater biota using global hydrological modelling and expert surveys. Within regulate, Linda investigates alterations in groundwater quantity due to climate change and human water use.
Betreuer*innen
Die Nachwuchsgruppe wird von Petra Döll, Hans Jürgen Hahn, Antje Bruns and Gisela Welz betreut.
Wissenschaftliche Hilfskräfte
Die Gruppe wird von den folgenden Praktikant*innen und Forschungsassistent*innen unterstützt.
Sophia is a research assistant at ISOE since 2018, working at the research unit on Water Infrastructure and Risk Analysis. She mainly supports research projects focusing on the implementation of alternative water infrastructure and water reuse in developing countries and Germany. Additionally, she supported internal basic research on water in the Anthropocene (artificial waters) and water and digitalisation. Her area of responsibility concludes policy analysis and research as well as supporting stakeholder workshops, scientific papers, documentation and organisation. In July 2021, she joined the 'regulate' project.
Sophia studied political science (B.A.) and is looking forward to her Master in International Relations/Peace- and conflict analysis at Goethe University Frankfurt. In her Bachelor’s thesis, she did a conceptual analysis of Socio-Hydrology and Hydrosocial Research and their potential contribution to the transformation of water governance in the Anthropocene.
Ulrike is a research assistant in regulate since January 2022, supporting the case study in Germany by preparing, implementing, and analysing empirical research. Within the case study, she conducts ethnographic research for her M.A. thesis on forms of participation and knowledge practices surrounding the management of ground- and drinking water in Mansfeld-Südharz. Ulrike holds a B.A. in European Ethnology from Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, where she focused her work on postsocialist and postcolonial theories and their intertwining fields of interest. In her B.A. thesis she studied the subjectivization, positionality, and representation of young East Germans.
Sarah joined the regulate team in November 2021. Her main tasks involve supporting external communication including social media, and assisting in organising events such as stakeholder workshops.
Sarah is currently studying environmental sciences as part of the master’s program at Goethe-University Frankfurt mainly focusing on biology/ecology and social-ecology. Within her focal areas, she specialized on environmental toxicology and environmental analytics in aquatic ecosystems. Sarah received her B.Sc. from Karl-Ruprecht University Heidelberg where she studied biosciences. Her focus was particularly on molecular biology, immunology, and ecology.