Water Management and Water Uses: Public Participation, Stakeholders’ Involvement and the Role of Science

SOCIUS – Research Centre of Economic and Organizational Sociology / ULisboa, Portugal

General Description

Water is a resource that crosses several boundaries – environmental engineering, hydrogeology, hydrology, sociology, governance and policy studies – and involves a wide range of actors and institutions. This elective focuses on risky situations linked to water scarcity, floods and pollution, and on the management challenges raised by the European Water Framework Directive’s requirement that policy-makers actively involve stakeholders. It explores how water policy can be simultaneously participatory and sustainable, how researchers can dialogue with users about water issues, how hydrological and social sciences can be linked, and what participation means for stakeholders – users, policymakers and scientists.

Elective Structure

The course runs as eight two-hour meetings from February to May (two sessions in February, three in March, two in April or May depending on empirical work). It strengthens comparison of cases through an interdisciplinary approach based on social studies, mainly science studies and participation and dialogic perspectives.