The Centre for Hydrogeology and Geothermics (CHYN) is among the world foremost institutions in almost all fields of modern hydrogeology and geothermics. Its mission addresses key challenges for society: improvement of knowledge of renewable groundwater and energy resources, development of strategies for their sustainable management and transmission of knowledge through specialized education programs. A key area of research of this institute is physical modelling of hydrogeological processes. It focuses on modelling hydrogeological processes using physically-based models. The research group on Hydrogeological Processes (lead by Prof. Brunner, see below) has a very strong track record in this field.
Main Role in WATERAGRI
Prof. Dr Philip Brunner is responsible for WP7 on framework development. His expertise is in the area of physicallybased simulations of surface-groundwater-vegetation interactions. He is responsible for the coordination of the modelling approaches as well as the modelling of the Seeland field site. In close collaboration with Prof. H. Hendricks-Franssen (FZJ), the numerical models developed in this project will be integrated into a data-assimilation framework for real-time modelling of surface and subsurface water resources under agricultural use. The proposed framework can consider various data types such as groundwater levels, remote sensing data of crops and soil moisture data as well as numerous processes including engineering structures such as active drains, groundwater flow and infiltration, water retention infrastructure and irrigation systems. These models provide the basis for the serious gaming approach in WP1.
Key persons
Prof. Dr Philip Brunner (male) leads the group on “Hydrogeological Processes” at the CHYN. The overarching aim of his research is to develop quantitative tools for the sustainable management of surface and subsurface water resources. Since January 2018, he is the director of the institute (40+ members). He has published 78 SCOPUS-index papers in the highest-ranking journals of hydrogeology and collaborates with world-renowned scientists in Australia, Canada, Germany, China and Switzerland. His h-factor is 29 (google-scholar, August 2020). His international recognition is reflected in numerous ways such as being an associate editor of the Journal of Hydrology, a leading journal in the field of hydrogeology. Philip was also on the Editorial Board of the Hydrogeology Journal from 2009 to 2012. In the past 10 years, he has received 14 grants from a range of funding agencies including 2020-ITN and the Swiss National Science Foundation. He is an adjunct Professor at Chang’an University in China and has been nominated as a foreign expert in Water Resources by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Education.
