
Uta Wehn
Associate Professor of Water Innovation Studies
Biography
Dr. Uta Wehn is Associate Professor of Water Innovation Studies and head of the Knowledge & Innovation Studies Development group at IHE Delft and the Adlerbert Visiting Professor of Marine Citizen Science for Sustainable Development at the University of Gothenburg. She is a social scientist from the field of science, technology & innovation studies, with a background in ICTs, drawing on more than 20 years of combined industrial, research and international development experience. Her work at the intersection of data and knowledge co-creation, digital innovations and water and environment focuses on the social dynamics of innovation and how to harness digital transformations for participatory environmental governance and sustainable development.
She leads the acquisition and implementation of large interdisciplinary research and capacity development projects. Her current Citizen Science projects include case studies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, using LivingLabs principles and tailoring user-centred and multi-stakeholder co-design methods to Citizen Science. She has extensive experience with teaching, MSc and PhD supervision and the facilitation of multi-stakeholder interactions in a range of thematic settings and cultural contexts.
She has over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, international conference proceedings/reports and book chapters in the areas of citizen science, citizen observatories and community-based environmental monitoring; participatory environmental governance; stakeholder engagement; co-design methods; business modelling; capacity development and knowledge management; data and knowledge sharing; social innovation and water innovation dynamics. She is a member of several high level international initiatives and she co-chairs the CSGP Community of Practice on Citizen Science & Open Science.
Publications
Selected publications
- Alfonso, L., Gharesifard, M. and Wehn, U. (2022) Analysing the value of environmental citizen-generated data: Complementarity and cost per observation, Journal of Environmental Management, 303, 114157
- Haklay, M., Fraisl, D., Greshake Tzovaras, B., Hecker, S., Gold, M., Hager, G., Ceccaroni, L., Kieslinger, B. Wehn, U., Woods, S., Nold, C., Balazs, B., Mazzonetto, M., Ruefenacht, S., Shanley, L.A., Wagenknecht, K., Motion, A., Sforzi, A., Riemenschneider, D., Dorler, D. Heigl, F., Schaefer, T., Lindner, A., Weisspflug, M., Maciuliene, M., and Vohland, K. (2021) Contours of citizen science: a vignette study, Royal Society: Open Science, 8, 202108
- Wehn, U., Ajates, R., Fraisl, D., Gharesifard, M., Gold, M., Hager, G., Oliver, J. L., See, L., Shanley, L.A., Ferri, M., Howitt, C., Monego, M., Pfeiffer, E., Wood, C. (2021), Capturing and communicating impact of citizen science for policy: A storytelling approach, Journal of Environmental Management, 295, 113082
- Wehn, U., Gharesifard, M., Ceccaroni, L., Joyce, H., Ajates, R., Wood, S., Bilbao, A., Parkinson, S., Gold, M., Wheatland, J., (2021) Impact Assessment of citizen science: state of the art and guiding principles for a consolidated approach, Sustainability Science.
- Hager, G., Gold, M., Wehn, U., Ajates, R., See, L., Woods, M., Tsiakos, V., Maso, J., Fraisl, D., Moorthy, I., Domian, D., Fritz, S. (2021) Onto new horizons: learnings from the WeObserve project to strengthen awareness, acceptability and sustainability of Citizen Observatories in Europe, Journal of Science Communication, 20(06)
- Medina, B., Smith, D., Wehn, U., Nytofte, J., Brummer, M. (2021) The Power, Influence and the Networking ability of water and climate organisations: the AfriAlliance Stakeholder Map, Environmental Science & Policy, forthcoming.
- Sprinks, J., Woods, S.M., Parkinson, S., Wehn, U., Joyce, H., Ceccaroni, L., Gharesifard, M. (2021) Coordinator perceptions when assessing the impact of citizen science towards the Sustainable Development Goals, Sustainability, 13(4), 2377-2391
- Ferri, M., Wehn, U., See, L., Monego, M., and Fritz, S. (2020) The value of citizen science for flood risk reduction: Cost-benefit analysis of a citizen observatory in the Brenta-Bacchiglione catchment, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 24, 5781-5798.
- Mvulirwenande, S. and Wehn, U., Dynamics of water innovation in African cities: Insights from Kenya, Ghana and Mozambique, Special Issue on Water Innovation in Africa, Environmental Science & Policy, 114, 96-108.
- Mvulirwenande, S. and Wehn, U., Fostering water innovation in Africa through virtual incubation: Insights from the Dutch VIA Water, Special Issue on Water Innovation in Africa, Environmental Science & Policy, 114, 119-127.
- Mvulirwenande, S. and Wehn, U., Opening the innovation incubation black box: A process perspective, Special Issue on Water Innovation in Africa, Environmental Science & Policy, 114, 140-151.
- Fraisl, D.; Campbell, J.; See, L.; Wehn, U.; Wardlaw, J.; Gold, M.; Moorthy, I.; Arias, R.; Piera, J.; Oliver, J.L.; Maso, J.; Penker, M.; Fritz, S., (202) Mapping citizen science contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Sustainability Science.
- Aggestam, F., Lipponen, A., Mangalagiu, D., Vardon, M., Wehn, U. (2020) Introduction to the special issue on a Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) for evidence-based policymaking, Volume 114, 178-181.
- Mvulirwenande, S. and Wehn, U., (2020) Analysing Frugal Innovation Incubation Programmes: a Case study from the Water Sector, Prometheus – Critical Studies in Innovation, forthcoming.
- Fritz, S., See, L., Carlson, T., Haklay, M., Oliver, J., Fraisl, D., Mondardini, R., Brocklehurst, M., Shanley, L., Schade, S., Wehn, U. , Abrate1, T., Anstee, J., Arnold, S., Billot, M. Campbell, J., Parker, A., Gold, M., Hager, G., He, S., Hepburn, L., Hsu, A., Long, D., Maso, J., McCallum, I., Muniafu, M., Moorthy, I., Obersteiner, M., Weissplug, M., and West, S., (2019) Citizen Science and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Nature Sustainability, October 2019, 922-930.
- Wehn, U., Vallejo, B., Seijger, C., Tlhagale, M., Amorsi, N., Sossou, S., Genthe, B. and Kileshye Onema, J.M., (2020) Strengthening the knowledge base to face the impacts of climate change on water resources in Africa: a social innovation perspective, Special Issue on Water Innovation in Africa, Environmental Science & Policy, 116, 292-300.
- Wehn, U. and Almomani, A. (2019), Incentives and barriers for participation in community-based environmental monitoring and information systems: a critical analysis and integration of the literature, Environmental Science & Policy, Special Issue on Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS), Volume 101, 341-357
- Gharesifard, M., Wehn, U., and van der Zaag, P., (2019) What influences the establishment and functioning of community-based monitoring initiatives of water and the environment? A conceptual framework, Journal of Hydrology, Volume 579, 124033.
- Gharesifard, M., Wehn, U. and van der Zaag, P., (2019) Context matters: a baseline analysis of contextual realities for two community-based monitoring initiatives of water and environment in Europe and Africa, Journal of Hydrology, Volume 579, 124-144.
- Wehn, U. and Montalvo, C. (2018) Exploring the dynamics of water innovation: Foundations for water innovation studies, Journal of Cleaner Production, 171(S), 1-19.
- Wehn, U. and Montalvo, C. (2018) Knowledge transfer dynamics and innovation: Behaviour, interactions and aggregated outcomes, Journal of Cleaner Production, 171(S), 56-68.
- Mazzoleni, M., Cortes Arevalo, V.J., Wehn, U., Alfonso, L., Norbiato, D., Monego, M., Ferri, M. and Solomatine, D., (2018) Exploring the influence of citizen involvement on the assimilation of crowdsourced observations: a modelling study based on the 2013 flood event in the Bacchiglione catchment (Italy), Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 22, 391-416.
- Wehn. U., Collins, K., Anema, K., Basco-Carrera, L. and Lerebours, A., (2018) Stakeholder engagement in water governance as social learning: Lessons from practice, Water International, 43(1), 34-59.
- Mvulirwenande, S., Wehn, U. and Alaerts, G. (2018) Policy factors explaining the failure of delegated management in water supply: evidence from Ghana, Water International, 1-17.
- Mvulirwenande, S., Alaerts, G. and Wehn, U. (2017), Evaluating Capacity Development in the Water Sector: Challenges and Progress, Water International, 42(4), 372-384.
Other information
- Co-Chair of the Citizen Science & Open Science Community of Practice (under the CSGP)
- IHE Delft Representative at the OECD Water Governance Initiative (2013-2022)
- Member of the Editorial Board of Prometheus - critical studies in innovation. Download journal profile here.
- Member of the Board of Directors of ECSA - European Citizen Science Association (2019-2020)
- Co-Chair of the GEO CITSCI Community Activity (Group on Earth Observation Citizen Science CA) (2019-2020)
RECENT AND ON-GOING RESEARCH PROJECTS
- CSEOL - Citizen Science Earth Observation Lab (2019-2022) Funder: ESA. Project Coordinator
- MICS - Measuring the Impact of Citizen Science (2019-2022) Funder: EU H2020. WP lead - Methods for measuring citizen science impacts
- Ground Truth 2.0 – Environmental knowledge discovery of human sensed data (2016-2019) Funder: EU H2020. Project Director & WP lead Social dimensions of citizen observatories
- WeObserve - An ecosystem of citizen observatories for environmental monitoring (2017-2021) Funder: EU H2020. WP lead - Communities of Practice
- AfriAlliance - Africa-EU Innovation Alliance for Water and Climate (2016-2021) Funder: EU H2020. Project Director & WP co-lead Matching water innovation needs and solutions
- Women and Water for Change in Communities 2017-2021) Funder: The Coca Cola Foundation. WP lead
- National Strategies for Water Sector Capacity Development (2014-2015) Funder: DGIS. Project Coordinator
- WeSenseIt Citizen Observatories of Water (2012-2016) Funder: EU FP7. WP Lead - Governance
RECENT AND ON-GOING CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
- CAPP – Community Agency for Pro-Poor Biodiversity Conservation in Zambia (2021-2023) Funder: DGIS. Project Coordinator.
- WATRA – Strengthening skills development for WAstewater Treatment and Reuse in Agriculture in a recently established higher TVET programme in Jordan (2021-2022) Funder: Nuffic – Orange Knowledge Programme. WP Lead – Business plan
- ProCAD Colombia – Projects and capacities for adaptation of coastal deltas in Colombia, 2021, Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), Task lead – Knowledge and capacity development needs
- Chittagong - Chittagong Water Supply & Sewerage Authority - Utility Modernization Umbrella Consultancy (2015-2017) Funder: International Development Association (IDA) and Republic of Bangladesh. Lead for IHE contribution.
- SUSWAS - Public Private Partnership for increased Access to Sustainable Water services in Rwanda) (2013-2017) Funder: Sustainable Water Fund. Lead for IHE contribution
- CAPIWUA - Capacity Development for Performance Improvement of water utilities in secondary urban centers in East Africa (2011-2015) Funder: ACP-EU Water Facility Programme.
- MRC module-based competency framework for IWRM (2012) Funding: Mekong River Commission, 2012.
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