dr. G. Özerol (Gül)

Dr. Gül Özerol is a policy scientist, concerned with the sustainable and equitable governance of natural resources. She holds a PhD degree in Governance for Sustainability from the University of Twente, an MSc degree in Integrated Assessment from the University of Osnabrück, Germany, and BSc and MSc degrees in Industrial Engineering from the Middle East Technical University, Turkey.

For over 20 years, she has been researching and teaching in diverse social and political contexts, mainly in the Middle East and Europe. A core value in her work is co-creation of knowledge with societal stakeholders, ranging from local and regional authorities in the North Sea Region, to ministries and NGOs in Palestine. Her research expertise and recognition in water, energy and climate governance relies on local, national and international collaborations.

She supervises PhD and postdoctoral researchers and BSc and MSc students, and teaches courses and gives guest lectures that often connect with her research interests. Since 2022, she serves as the educational director of MEEM, the MSc programme in Environmental and Energy Management.

Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences (BMS), Department of Governance and Technology for Sustainability (CSTM)

Dr. Gül Özerol is keen to improve the scientific and practical foundations of governance and infrastructure studies by applying comparative and transdisciplinary research methods. She has gained experience and recognition in actor-based and institutional analysis of natural resource governance, focusing on water, energy and land resources. Over the past 20 years, she participated in and managed collaborative projects in Europe, North America, Middle East and North Africa, and gained local experience in Turkey, Palestine, the Netherlands, Germany and the United States.

PhD supervision

Ann-Katrin Ellermann: Comparison of participatory and collaborative approaches to water governance in Europe (ongoing)
Amro Wawi: Data governance and digitalisation in water management, Palestine (ongoing)
Franziska Baack: Climate change adaptation and stakeholder engagement in the cities of Overijssel, the Netherlands (ongoing)
Juliane Schillinger: Comparative analysis of the impacts of armed conflict on local water management systems in the Middle East (ongoing)
Adnan Mirhanoglu: A socio-material approach to water access struggles of smallholder farmers - Co-shaping actors, institutions, and infrastructures in Ağlasun, Turkey (with KU Leuven, completed in 2023)
Marielle Feenstra: Gender just energy policy - Engendering the energy transition in Europe (completed in 2021)
Latif Mohammadzadeh: Climate change adaptation and farmer decision making in the Urmia Lake basin, Iran (guest researcher in 2019)
César Casiano Flores: Context matters - Water governance assessment of the wastewater treatment plant policy in Central Mexico (completed in 2017)

Research interests

Water, energy and climate governance, focusing on local and national levels
Just transitions, focusing on gender and intersectionality
Transdisciplinary and comparative research methods

Casiano Flores, C., Müller, A. P. R., Dolman, N. , & Özerol, G. (2023). Assessing the leapfrogging potential to water sensitive: the Dutch case of Zwolle. Journal of Water and Climate Change, 14(5), 1638-1655. https://doi.org/10.2166/wcc.2023.493

Mirhanoğlu, A. , Özerol, G., Hoogesteger, J., VAN DEN BROECK, P., & Loopmans, M. (2023). Socio-Material Bricolage: (Co)Shaping of Irrigation Institutions and Infrastructures. International journal of the commons, 17(1), 69-86. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijc.1188

Aukes, E. J. , Franco-Garcia, L. , Lulofs, K. R. D. , McGreevy, S. , Özerol, G. , & Sanderink, L. (2023). Transforming a Problem-based learning course into a Challenge-based learning course: UT M-EEM “Challenge-based Sustainability Case projects”. University of Twente.

Mohammadzadeh, L. , Ozerol, G., & Ghanian, M. (2023). Governance of Agricultural Water Management: How Does the EPSI Model Explain Iranian Farmers' Satisfaction? An Experience from Northwestern Iran. Journal of agricultural science and technology, 25(1), 19-32. http://jast.modares.ac.ir/article-23-53363-en.html

Bressers, H. T. A. , & Özerol, G. (2022). Coping with extreme events in midsize cities: Enabling practitioners to assess the supportiveness of their governance context. Paper presented at 3rd International Conference on Climate Change & Water 2022, Tours, France.

Sayers, P., Gersonius, B. , Özerol, G., Nugraha, E., & Schipper, C. A. (2022). A Framework for Cloud to Coast Adaptation: Maturity and Experiences from across the North Sea. Land, 11(6), [950]. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11060950

Schillinger, J. , Özerol, G. , & Heldeweg, M. A. (2022). A social-ecological systems perspective on the impacts of armed conflict on water resources management: Case studies from the Middle East. Geoforum, 133, 101-116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.05.001

Bormann, H., Böge, M., Dolman, N. , Özerol, G. , & Lulofs, K. (2022). Ein webbasiertes Tool zur Unterstützung mittelgroßer Städte bei der Anpassung an den Klimawandel. Wasser und Abfall, 24(3), 39-45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s35152-022-0740-8

Mirhanoğlu, A., Loopmans, M. , & Özerol, G. (2022). Social Head-Enders: Access and Authority in Irrigation Governance. Society and Natural Resources, 35(2), 185-203. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2021.2009944

Bressers, H. T. A. , & Özerol, G. (2021). Supportive governance for climate resilient city strategies: Enabling practitioners to assess their context. Paper presented at ECPR General Conference 2021.

Mohammadzadeh, L., Ghanian, M., Shadkam, S. , Özerol, G., & Marzban, A. (2021). Application of a land use change model to guide regional planning and development in the south basin of the Urmia Lake, Iran. Environmental earth sciences, 80(17), [545]. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09837-7

Feenstra, M. H. (2021). Gender just energy policy: engendering the energy transition in Europe. [PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT, University of Twente]. University of Twente. https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036551960

Hogeboom, R. J. , Borsje, B. W., Deribe, M. M. , van der Meer, F. D. , Mehvar, S. , Meyer, M. A. , Özerol, G. , Hoekstra, A. Y. , & Nelson, A. D. (2021). Resilience meets the water–energy–food nexus: Mapping the research landscape. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 9, 1-18. [630395]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2021.630395

Feenstra, M. , & Özerol, G. (2021). Energy justice as a search light for gender-energy nexus: Towards a conceptual framework. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 138, [110668]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2020.110668

Ossewaarde, R. , Filatova, T. , Georgiadou, Y. , Hartmann, A. , Özerol, G. , Pfeffer, K. , Stegmaier, P. , Torenvlied, R. , van der Voort, M. , Warmink, J. , & Borsje, B. (2021). Review article: Towards a context-driven research: a state-of-the-art review of resilience research on climate change. Natural hazards and earth systems sciences discussions, 21(3), 1119–1133. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-1119-2021

Baack, F. R. , Özerol, G. , Vinke - de Kruijf, J. , Halman, J. I. M. , & Kuks, S. M. M. (2020). Connecting Climate Change Adaptation with Other Policy Issues: A Comparative Case Study of two Municipalities in the Netherlands. Paper presented at ECPR General Conference Online 2020.

Clancy, J. , Özerol, G. , Mohlakoana, N. , Feenstra, M., & Sol Cueva, L. (2020). Engendering the Energy Transition: Setting the Scene. In Engendering the Energy Transition (pp. 3-9). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43513-4_1

Bressers, H. , & Özerol, G. (2020). Can Water Resilient City Strategies and Projects Be Realized in Practice? The Governance Assessment Tool. 1-21. Paper presented at ECPR General Conference Online 2020.

Dolman, N. , Lulofs, K. , Özerol, G., Bormann, H., Böge, M. , & Bressers, H. (2020). Transitie naar de waterbewuste stad: Omgaan met verstedelijking, waterbeheer en klimaatverandering. Water governance, (3), 37-44.

Schillinger, J. , Özerol, G., Güven-Griemert, S. , & Heldeweg, M. (2020). Water in war: Understanding the impacts of armed conflict on water resources and their management. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 7(6), [e1480]. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1480

Özerol, G., Dolman, N., Bormann, H. , Bressers, H. , Lulofs, K., & Böge, M. (2020). Urban water management and climate change adaptation: A self-assessment study by seven midsize cities in the North Sea Region. Sustainable Cities and Society, 55, [102066]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2020.102066

Özerol, G. (2019). National and local actors of drought governance in Europe: A comparative review of six cases from North-West Europe. In I. La Jeunesse, & C. Larrue (Eds.), Facing Hydrometeorological Extreme Events: A Governance Issue (pp. 171-188). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119383567.ch12

Schillinger, J. M., Swaity, M., Abushaban, I., Abualtayef, M. , & Özerol, G. (2019). Conflict impacts on local water management in the Gaza Strip. Paper presented at 1st International Conference on Environmental Peacebuilding 2019, Irvine, California, United States.

Özerol, G. , Bressers, H. , Lulofs, K., Bormann, H., Boege , M., Lijzenga, S., & Dolman, N. (2019). Identifying the state of the art and scoping needs of midsize cities: Final report CATCH Work Package 3. University of Twente.

Böge , M., Bormann, H., Dolman, N. , Özerol, G. , Bressers, H., & Lijzenga, S. (2019). CATCH – der Umgang mit Starkregen als europäisches Verbundprojekt. Gas Wasserfach Wasser Abwasser, 160, 53-56.

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Main educational activities of Dr. Gül Özerol take place within MEEM, the MSc programme in Environmental and Energy Management. Since 2022, she serves as the educational director of the programme. She also co-teaches and coordinates the Water Management, Rurban Commons and Research Proposal courses within the programme, and supervises students in MEEM and other programmes.

Over the past 10 years, she has contributed to various BSc and MSc programmes within and outside the University of Twente by designing and giving courses and co-supervising students on topics related to her research interests, such as urban water management, participatory irrigation management, gender equity in water governance, and climate adaptation in rural and urban areas.

Master

Environmental and Energy Management

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.

194128030 - Master Thesis PA

Dr. Gül Özerol is the project manager for the University of Twente in GOVAQUA (2023-2027), an EU Horizon Europe project on innovations for a transition to a sustainable and equitable water governance. She is leading the work package on participatory and collaborative approaches and co-leading the workpackage on transitions to sustainable and equitable water governance.

She was the project manager for the University of Twente and work package leader in CATCH (2017-2022) and C5a (2019-2022), EU Interreg projects on climate resilience in the North Sea Region, and in CATCH+ (2018-2021), a spin-off of the CATCH project focusing on the Province of Overijssel. All three projects involved close collaboration with local, reigonal and national authorities in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK.

From 2013 until 2020, she was the coordinator of the Palestinian-Dutch Academic Cooperation Programme on Water (PADUCO) that involved six universities from Palestine and five universities from the Netherlands. She also participated in seven projects, focusing on her research interests, such as water governance assessment, climate adaptation in agriculture, and gender equity in water management and research.

From 2016 until 2023, she was the senior editor of Fanack Water, an online media platform covering water and climate issues in the 21 countries of the Middle East and North Africa Region.

GOVAQUA

Governance innovations for a transition to sustainable and equitable water use in Europe

Europe is facing water challenges ranging from water scarcity to degradation of the freshwater ecosystems. These challenges are expected to be exacerbated by climate change, growing development needs, and structural changes in sectors such as agriculture and energy. Overuse and depletion of water resources causes ecological debt, threatens livelihoods, and weakens the European economy. Reconciling water uses and environmental needs in Europe requires a transition towards sustainable and equitable water use. This transition is also needed to reach the aims of the EU Water Framework Directive, the European Green Deal, and Sustainable Development Goals. Horizon Europe project GOVAQUA aims to accelerate this transition by better water governance. The GOVAQUA project will – for the first time – define what sustainability transition means in water governance and create criteria and indicators for its assessment. GOVAQUA takes a close look at the most innovative water governance solutions to find out how they could help Europe to meet its water challenges. The project identifies the good practices related to legislation and regulation, multi-stakeholder participation and collaboration, economic and financial instruments, and digital solutions for information sharing. These practices are systematically reviewed, analysed, and compared – and further co-developed, assessed and validated with key stakeholders in six real-world living labs in France, Finland, Spain, the UK, and Romania, and transnationally between Finland and Sweden.

+31534894171

+31534894377 (if no answer)

g.ozerol@utwente.nl

Visiting Address

University of Twente
Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Ravelijn (building no. 10), room 1155
Hallenweg 17
7522NH Enschede
The Netherlands

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University of Twente
Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Ravelijn 1155
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
The Netherlands

Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences (BMS), Department of Governance and Technology for Sustainability (CSTM)

University of Twente Drienerlolaan 5
7522 NB Enschede

+31 (0)53 489 9111
info@utwente.nl
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