Konstantin Scheihing

Research project procedure

The goal of the research project at the UNESCO Institute IGRAC in Delft was to draw up a review study about capacity development and groundwater sustainability. Upon arriving at the IGRAC in Delft I was received warmly by all five team members (two women and three men). Belgium, Scotland, Chile, the Netherlands and Croatia are represented in the international team at the IGRAC.

On-site teaching at the primary institution IHE Delft was resumed in October 2021, so there were many little events to welcome returning students and this was a great opportunity to start establishing a local network. There was also a central welcome event with a stage in the big reception area. Among other items, a band played on the stage and there was a programme hosted by one of the assistant lecturers. In addition, there were things like city tours of Delft focussing on the issue of water. Alongside work-related meetings, the IGRAC team also had a meeting at a local café so we could get to know each other.

At the very start of my work I gave a presentation about the research topic and we talked about the further procedure. We agreed to approach the following steps in close coordination among the team. The systematic search and review method was used to handle the research project. The advantage of this method is that it includes a traceable and reproduceable literature research process.

At the start of the academic activities, the selection criteria were determined to roughly identify the pool of relevant publications for the research topic. We chose the Scopus online databases, Web of Science and Google Scholar as our research platforms. The next step was to specify suitable search terms that would be suitable for the literature search process. This way, I was able to define 186 sources that qualified for an initial review.

While reviewing the indicated articles, I kept notes and tables to collect the key contributions from these articles. Regular conversations with the local colleagues were part of this process. My work was received so well that I was invited to also make a contribution to the World Water Development Report 2022 of the United Nations on this topic, as a sub-team of three IGRAC staff members was involved in this. I am therefore a co-author of the ninth chapter of the corresponding UN report that was published in March 2022.

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Konstantin Scheihing at the IGRAC

In January 2022, a point was reached in the literature review that enabled me to develop an overall concept for the study. Soon after, I started to write down the collected findings. The results part of the study is divided into the areas ‘capacity gaps’, ‘capacity development implementation’ and ‘capacity development success verification’. The article was under review in the ‘Groundwater for Sustainable Development’ journal in early April.

I did not have a lot of contact with Dutch people, owing to the Covid-19 situation and the multicultural working environment. I greatly enjoyed the international working atmosphere at the institute (IHE Delft) that was characterised by open-minded interaction.

Everyday life and differences in working methods and lifestyle

My workplace was located in the IGRAC office in Delft, in the same building that is also used by the water research institute IHE Delft. Owing to low availability of housing in Delft, I failed to find an apartment there. This is why I lived in The Hague, the nearest major city. I used an electric bicycle to cycle to Delft from The Hague and back every day. It took just over 30 minutes to cover this distance.

In my free time, I visited the extensive coast and dune areas to go for walks. Owing to the restrictions because of Covid-19, only few cultural offerings were recommended or available during my stay. However, we did go to Bruges for a day trip.

Access to the required online resources was very straightforward as it was possible via the intranet, and I could also work from home if necessary. Working from home was not mandatory, though. I regularly had lunch in the canteen with my colleagues. The IHE Delft is also a further training institution, almost all of whose students are from abroad. This is another facet of the multicultural environment.

Impact of the project for my further career and professional network

During my time at IGRAC and IHE Delft, I was able to establish a few new contacts with strong links to the subject area of water. I personally gained many new insights concerning the challenges and opportunities of capacity development in the groundwater segment. I will certainly benefit from this experience in future projects. The IGRAC is going to pursue the findings from the project further in internal projects. I also hope that the work will soon be available to a broader audience to strengthen the field of capacity development for groundwater sustainability on a global level. After returning to Germany, I will be working as a project leader in the field of water supply.

Publications from the research project:

Misstear, B., Aureli, A., Sterckx, A., Ruz Vargas, C., Scheihing, K., Kukurić, N. (2022). The United Nations World Water Development Report 2022: Groundwater: Making the invisible visible. Chapter 9: Building and updating the knowledge base. UNESCO, Paris.

Scheihing, K., Fraser, C., Ruz Vargas, C., Sterckx, A., Lictevout, E., Kukurić, N. (2022):"A review of current capacity development practice for promoting groundwater sustainability". In: Groundwater for Sustainable Development.

Excerpt from the UN-Water Groundwater Summit 2022 at UNESCO House in Paris

Acknowledgements

I would expressly like to thank the KSB-Stiftung and the DAAD-Stiftung for providing the resources for realising the research project.