Supervisor

Christoph Hauer, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8704-2198 

Content

This project links river long term river morphological and sedimentological changes to the development of functional habitats, with a focus on river systems, which exhibit multi-pressures (e.g. hydropower, inland navigation)

Skills and Qualifications

  • Required: Master or other equivalent university degree in (environmental) hydraulic engineering with a focus on instream ecology
  • Required: Practical experiences with 1-D and 2-D hydrodynamic numerical modelling and the assessment of long-term morphological changes
  • Desirable: skills in GIS-analysis
 

 

Introduction/background

The  four  industrial  revolutions  (IRs)  contained  major  paradigm  shifts  in  handling  environmental  resources.  Industrial  revolution  1.0  (machine  production)  around  1800,  industrial  revolution  2.0  (assembly-line  work)  around  1890,  industrial  revolution  3.0  (computer  work)  around  1970  and  industrial revolution 4.0 (digitalisation) around 2010, contained both, different needs concerning environmental  resources  and  different  impacts  on  the  environment.  In  terms  of  industrial  revolution 1.0 key resources were still mainly locally provided and the impacts closely found to the place of production. In terms of industrial revolution 3.0 and 4.0 natural resources from all over the world are used (e.g. rare earth material) with, however, very different impacts on the environment like increasing need of electricity (e.g. impoundment of rivers). Those developments, caused by the  succession  of  industrial  revolutions,  shifted  the  cause-impact  environmental  scenarios  drastically. Without a systematic analysis of the long-term co-evolution of the river as Socio-economic Hydrological Ecosystems and the various impacts of these 4 industrial revolutions, no integrative vulnerability assessment would be possible, providing the necessary knowledge for better future water management.

Main objective/research question/hypothesis

This project systematically analyses the ecohydrological and morphological consequences and conditions of European urbanization with different cases in Austria. Following main research questions should be answered:

  • How shall we reassess the vulnerably of river systems with respect to the co-evolution of rivers and human society including the four industrial revolutions for the cause impact on river environments?
  • What kind of socio-technological developments of climate change adaption will increase or decrease the vulnerability of IRL?

Approach/methods and time frame (Sites, areas, region of investigation)

The PhD-project will be based on both, (i) analysis of existing (historical) data and (ii) sampling / modelling work. Part (i) should make a clear systematic analysis of the various steps of human society  in terms  of  the  four  phases  of  industrial  revolutions,  related  to  resource  use  from  and environmental  impacts  on  RL.  An  evaluation  of the  current  situation  and  predictions  will  follow,  which of the uses of river systems are still needed from a societal point of view (e.g. floodplain areas  for  food  production)  or  which  impacts/benefits  can  be  expected  in  future  resulting  from  industrial revolution 5.0. Part (ii) will include specific vulnerability analyses. In a joint work between hydraulic  /  sedimentological  modelling,  aquatic  biota  and  pollution  analysis,  the  vulnerability  of  river ecosystems will be reassessed based on various scenarios of cause-impact, highlighting the most sensitive processes with the risk of the manifestation of “points of no return”, especially in terms of climate change. Case studies should be situated in the Upper Danube basin (e.g. Steyr river, Enns river) were mining and iron industry (cp. IR 1.0) has a long history.