3 million Swedish Kronor in grant to project focusing on Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem

Claudia Teutschbein, Assistant Professor and Malgorzata Blicharska Associate Professor. 

Malgorzata Blicharska and Claudia Teutschbein project NEXOGENESIS EU Horizon 2020 has been selected for funding. Not only that, but with a score of 14.5/15 the project ranked 1st out of 80 submitted proposals.

The project is coordinated by IHE Delft, involves 20 partner organisations, and received a total of 5 mio € of which 290,000 € (approximately 3 million SEK) will go to our department. Claudia Teutschbein from Air, Water and Landscape Sciences (LUVAL) and Malgorzata Blicharska from Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (NRHU) will together be leading one of the work packages and split the funding 50-50, so roughly 1.5 million SEK will go to NRHU and 1.5 million SEK to LUVAL.

Malgorzata and Claudia, explain the purpose of the project?
- In this project we will first identify and model linkages in a Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) nexus, accounting for ongoing climatic and socio-economic changes. We will further assess how different water-related policies can be streamlined into the nexus, to lead to multiple gains in all related sectors, again, considering the ongoing changes. The work will be conducted in five case studies on the ground, with strong involvement of relevant stakeholders. We will also develop a WEFE-nexus footprint, a composite indicator to trace the progress of different policy objectives.

How will you be using AI?
- Artificial intelligence (AI) tools will, together with biophysical and socio-economic modelling, be used to assist policy makers in guiding integrated policy design, in other words to determine the optimal policy-mix that lead to win-win solutions in all nexus sectors, and reduced conflicts in the WEFE nexus. It will help exploring available actions to be taken while optimizing a reward function representing a desired state (e.g. integration of water policies minimizing detrimental impacts to other sectors). The AI-based self-learning assessment engine will use data from the biophysical modelling and stakeholder behavioural analysis, as well as information about impact of different policy options on the nexus elements.

Which countries are involved?
- The consortium is composed of 20 partner institutions, from 12 countries; The Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, Greece, Spain, France, Sweden, Latvia, South Africa, Belgium, Bulgaria and Romania.

For more information contact: 
Malgorzata Blicharska or Claudia Teutschbein.
Short YouTube video about the project.