Breaking Barriers - Urbanising Deltas of the World Final Conference (Recap)

From 23-25 November 2021 the UDW community gathered to look beyond regional borders, share and discuss worldwide research results, provide new insights and encourage peers to foster innovation in river delta development.

Four cartoons of the thematic sessions were created, view below the outcomes per session. 

thema sessie_UDW
Graphic of thematic session 1:
Contextualised knowledge: What have we learned from the comparative research?
Context:
Many different knowledge products were developed to contextualise knowledge from an academic context to another (e.g. the context of policy-makers, farmers or strategic planners).
The UDW projects have tailored their knowledge products to specific stakeholder needs. This session showcased multiple examples of this contextualisation.
thema sessie 2_UDW
Graphic of thematic session 2:
From knowledge creation to application
Context:
Innovation: New ideas on the interplay of research, implementation & innovation
Henk Ovink started this session with his keynote on global climate and water crisis and the focus on deltas as areas of risk. The keynote was followed up by three UDW presentations on:
• How climate information can be brought to the local farmers so that they can anticipate on different circumstances (e.g. drought or heavy rainfall);
• How sweet water in Mozambique can be recycled;
• How information on water quality can be shared through a mobile phone application.
thema sessie 4_UDW
Graphic of thematic session 3:
Engaging with policy development: What have we learned? Different approaches, successes and tools
Context:
Examples from different projects (e.g. addressing assumptions made by institutes in Maputo on the use of waste water, developing a framework for transformation in water use) acted as a starting point of discussion about new steps for ‘pracademics’ (practically-focused academics) to explore different perspectives in a transgressive research process.
thema sessie 3_UDW
Graphic of thematic session 4:
Co-creation for innovation and governance: Connecting bottom-up and top-down processes in the delta
Context:
There is gap between the worlds of researchers and policy-makers. Both worlds have a role to play to close this gap. Examples of best practices on delta plan development were shared. Specifically:
• How the delta plan in Bangladesh was strongly influenced by the scientific knowledge base;
• The important role of the media in influencing policy and thus the importance of communication skills of projects teams to catch attention on a particular subject;
• Overcoming figurative language and not only initiating, but also maintaining a dialogue between researchers and policy-makers.