Doctoral Thesis

Working title:
Navigating urban water systems transformation: A reflexive social-ecological-technological framework for research and governance - applications in Bangkok and Dresden

Supervisor:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Marc Wolfram, IOER and Dresden University of Technology (TUD)

TUD Faculty:
Faculty of Environmental Sciences

IOER Research areas:
Built Environment - Resources and Environmental Risks
Transformative Capacities

Abstract: Urban water systems are continuously transforming as institutions, technologies, regulations, and ecological conditions co-evolve under intensifying pressures from climate change, rapid urbanization, flooding, drought, and pollution. As complex adaptive systems, their behaviour is emergent and non-linear, rendering mainstream research paradigms and conceptual orientations as well as dominant governance approaches, which rely on command-and-control structures and predict-and-control epistemologies grounded in historical data, structurally inadequate to navigate future uncertainties, emerging problems, and novel challenges.

A critical insight underlying this dissertation is that water crises are often fundamentally governance crises. Yet the frameworks available in both research and practice were not designed for systems in transformation. In response, this dissertation argues for the development of a reflexive framework for the research and governance of urban water systems transformation. The framework functions as an analytical compass, equipping researchers, policymakers, and governance actors to examine paradigms and conceptual orientations, organise competing frameworks and approaches, and identify pathways suited to their context.

The framework's applicability is tested through case studies in Bangkok, Thailand (Global South) and Dresden, Germany (Global North). These are selected not for comparison but to examine the framework across contrasting institutional, socio-political, hydromorphological, and spatial conditions. The dissertation contributes a critical mapping of dominant paradigms, a proposed integrative framework, and demonstrated applications across diverse urban water governance contexts.

CV

Education

Since 03/2020
Doctoral Candidate at the Dresden Leibniz Graduate School (DLGS)

09/2016-06/2017
Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
Academic Degree: M.Sc. in Environmental Sciences and Policy

06/2016-03/2007
Ateneo de Manila University, Manila, Philippines
Academic Degree: M.A. in Political Science Major in Global Politics

06/2002-03/2006
Ateneo de Manila University, Manila, Philippines
Academic Degree: B.A. in European Studies Major in International Relations and double
Minors in History and French Language and Studies

Professional Experience

02/2019-03/2020
International Climate Protection Fellow of Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung / Guest Research Fellow at Fraunhofer ISI, Germany

07/2018-01/2019
Sustainable Finance Project Director, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Philippines

04/2017-07/2017
Sustainability Research Intern, Schneider Electric, Hungary

02/2017-07/2017
Research Intern, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Hungary and Austria

06/2014-08/2016
Technical Specialist (Greenhouse Gas Management and Project Implementation Lead) for the Building Low Emission Alternatives to Develop Economic Resiliency and Sustainability Project, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Philippines

02/2012-02/2014
Project Consultant for the Climate Change and Clean Energy Project, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Philippines

10/2012-03/2013
Project Consultant for the Sustainable Energy Finance (SEF) Project, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Philippines

10/2011-06/2014
Assistant Director, Ateneo de Manila University – Center for Social Entrepreneurship, Philippines

01/2010-02/2011
Program Officer, Asia Society, Philippines and USA

10/2008-08/2009
Program Officer, Ashoka Innovators for the Public, Philippines and USA

06/2007-10/2008
Project Manager, Langogan Hydro Power Corporation, Philippines

03/2006-06/2014
Research Associate and Lecturer Faculty (Project-based, Part-time), Ateneo de Manila University – School of Government and Loyola Schools