Environment and Water Resources (EWRE)
Supervised by Professor Wouter Buytaert

Before starting my PhD, I completed an MEng in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London.

Why did you decide to do a PhD in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering?
After completing a UROP placement during my second year of undergraduate studies and my final year project, I developed an interest for the world of academic research. The field of Hydrology has always been of interest to me and the research team working on this topic in the Department is one of the most active and renowned in their field. The team here at Imperial is also well-known for its focus on applied research and close partnerships with local stakeholders in the countries in which they are working in, which is another aspect that I found invaluable. At the time of deciding, it was an easy choice for me as I was already familiar with the Department and its supportive and inspiring environment and was convinced about the relevance of the work being done in the research group.

Tell us about your PhD research
In a context of growing populations and changing climate, global water security has become one of the main challenges of the century. This is especially the case in the Andean region where many valleys are seasonally dry and where communities rely on glacier melt for their water supply. To address the risk of water scarcity, novel adaptation strategies are needed. Traditionally, grey infrastructure strategies have been used to secure water supply but have shown to have limited adaptive capacity and high costs, which reduces their effectiveness in the face of climate change. Nature-based solutions (NbS) are increasingly being recognised as a sustainable alternative, capable of providing benefits for water security as well as a multitude of other co-benefits such as ecosystem services, biodiversity or societal benefits. My research aims to quantify the actual and potential impacts of this type of solutions for water security to improve our understanding of the complex socio-hydrological processes taking place and inform decision-makers.

What impact do you hope you research will have/what do you hope your research will lead on to?The main objective of this research is to deepen our understanding of the functioning of different types of nature-based solutions and to try and quantify the impacts and benefits these solutions could have when implemented at different scales. Through a better understanding of the processes taking place, decision-makers will be better equipped to make decisions around the type of infrastructure and strategies they will rely on to address the water crisis.  

Does your research involve working with collaborators outside of the Department? If so who and why?
My research is co-funded by the USAID and the Government of Canada as part of the Natural Infrastructure for Water Security project in Peru. As part of the Consortium leading this project, my team and I at Imperial College get to travel to Peru and collaborate with the different NGOs and stakeholders involved in this project. As we focus on applied research, we usually work very closely with communities and local NGOs to involve the end-users and develop long-lasting collaborations. For my particular project, I have the opportunity to engage and discuss with decision-makers, local stakeholders and Andean communities during field trips to Peru through interviews and other activities.

Since the field of nature-based solutions is relatively new and is generating a lot of interest, it is not unusual that we get to discuss and collaborate with other researchers in the field. This happens during or outside of conferences.

As this topic is multi-disciplinary, we also collaborate with experts from different fields such as social scientists, ecologists or systems engineers. This is very important for our research as it requires collaboration and inputs from a broad range of fields and levels of expertise.

What is a typical week like for you?
Because of the nature of my PhD where I get to do a lot of work on field in Peru, my weeks can vary quite a bit. When in London, a typical week will involve reviewing ongoing research in my field to stay up to date on new advances and identify new research opportunities. The rest of my week is focused on developing my research outputs. I work on the development of a hydrological model that integrates NbS and run simulations to assess their impacts at a large catchment scale. Another part of my work is the development of a systems model informed by interviews I conducted with local stakeholders. Some days will also be dedicated to training opportunities relevant to my research. I also meet regularly with my supervisor to discuss my progress and exchange ideas as well as with my research group. In Peru, my week will be mostly focused on collecting data whether on field or doing interviews. I also attend and take part in workshops with our local partners.

During term-time, I work a few hours a week as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) in different courses of the MEng programme and help with teaching activities.

How have your skills developed, both professional and personal?
A PhD gives you a great opportunity to expand and develop new skills. Through the computational work that I do and the courses offered by the Graduate School, I have largely expanded my computational skills and learned new programming languages. Data analysis is another invaluable skill that will always be useful for the future. Beyond these more practical skills, time management, critical thought and problem solving are other skills that you inherently develop as you advance in your PhD studies. Another invaluable skill is that of having the ability to communicate your research clearly to a very wide audience with different backgrounds and interests. Keeping things simple is not always easy but is essential if you want to communicate your research to end users or decision makers. Finally, having had the opportunity to co-supervise students for their thesis projects, to participate in teaching activities as a GTA and to coordinate activities in Peru, I have also gained teaching and management skills.

What do you enjoy most about being a PhD in the Department?
A PhD is a unique experience to dedicate your time to a research topic that interests and excites you. It is a continuous learning experience which gives you a great opportunity to explore different areas and develop a multitude of transferable skills. Being a PhD in the Department also gives you the chance to interact and learn from leaders in their topic. It is a great collaborative and supportive environment to be learning in with people with a real passion for what they do.