1. Faculty of Environment
  2. School of Geography
  3. Research and innovation
  4. River Basin Processes and Management
  5. People
  6. Profile
Cordula Wittekind

Cordula Wittekind

Profile

Project Overview

Britain has a maritime climate that is extremely variable at all scales. The North Atlantic Oscillation has a strong influence on seasonal precipitation patterns, particularly in upland and western regions. As the trajectories of greenhouse gas emissions are already pointing to the high-end climate change scenarios, robust water management strategies are urgently required. These have to account for the range of uncertainty associated with the climate-hydrology assessment chain. Given the planned overhaul of the abstraction licensing system and new UKCP18 climate projections, outputs from this project will help ensure that future environmental flows provide healthy riverine habitats as well as cost-effective and sufficient water supply to satisfy societal needs.

Hydrological modelling using the eco-hydrological model SWAT (Soil & Water Assessment Tool) in catchments representative for the variability of hydrologic response to climate change will be applied to distinguish patterns of pressure dominance across England in the 2030s and 2050s.

Funding

Marie Skodowska-Curie Project EuroFLOW

https://water.leeds.ac.uk/our-missions/mission-4/euroflow/

Education:

2017 MSc Integrated Natural Resource Management, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Thesis: Assessment of transgression of the planetary boundary of freshwater use, accounting for aquatic biodiversity (at Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research)

2013 BSc Economics and Management Science (spec: Planning, Engineering and Management), Universität Leipzig

Thesis: Economic evaluation of ecosystem services in the floodplain forest of Leipzig (at UFZ Leipzig)

2011 – 2012 ERASMUS Université Lille 1 - Sciences et Technologies, France

Other:

2015 – 2016 Student Assistant for the lectures Irrigation and Drainage, Landscape Ecology, and Engineering Biology at AG Ecology of Resource Use, Humboldt-Universität

2015 – 2016 Research Assistant for IWRM-plan consulations for the Karoon River, Iran at AG Ecology of Resource Use, Humboldt-Universität

2015 Study Project “Value chain development for food security and income generation in the context of climate change – the case of fresh vegetable in Ethiopia” organized by Humboldt-Universität and funded by Heinrich Böll Stiftung in Ethiopia

Research interests

Hydrological modelling, sustainable agriculture and water management, ecosystems under climate change, adaptation strategies for water resources management

Research groups and institutes

  • River Basin Processes and Management
  • water@leeds