Enforcement of the adaptation paradigm is already resulting in the introduction of several strategies to adapt to climate change, as demonstrated by recent European regulation. These strategies materialize as new limits on water losses in water infrastructure, more binding constraints on reuse, etc. As such, they mostly concern already existing infrastructure and will have in the long term a pervasive, lasting positive effect on the water supply - demand balance. On the other hand, there are also other investment types, consisting of large, strategic infrastructure, such as new desalination plants, reservoirs, inter-basin transfers. Given their non-negligible capital and environmental costs, these investments are often in the spotlight and hence need better databases and improved tools to be assessed. More in general, improved methodologies are needed to coordinate and optimize the different type of measures and investments to enhance the supply-demand balance at a river basin district scale considering the deep uncertainties associated to climate, technology, and socio-economic change.Applying for this research project the candidate will get in touch with theory and practice of investment appraisal and will explore the quantitative methods for planning under deep uncertainty. They will be involved in hydrologic modelling of water availability and demand under climate change and may also develop new skills in modelling water resources systems to conduct simulation studies.

The candidate will need to have some knowledge about hydrological processes, water supply infrastructure and economics. Other required skills regard the knowledge of the mostly known programming languages, such as Python, Matlab, and the software QGis.

The research activity will be held at the University of Palermo (Italy) and will be coordinated by Prof. Leonardo V. Noto, full professor of hydrology. His expertise ranges from hydrological modeling, ecohydrology, to climate change aspects. The team is also composed of researchers, post-doc, and Ph.D. students that have a great experience in the above topics. Particularly, Ph. Doctor Claudio Arena, researcher, has a long-standing experience for risk-based appraisal methodologies of investments to mitigate droughts and water resources system modelling. The candidate will thus find an enthusiastic team working on the various aspects of these challenging, multidisciplinary issues.