WISE CDT Student participates in Taiwanese collaboration

Student James Webber undertook a 10 day exchange visit to a number of institutions in Taiwan, along with other University of Exeter Centre for Water Systems researchers.

The visit was the latest in a number of exchanges between institutions in Taiwan and the University of Exeter and demonstrates the growing connections between the Centre and water management organisations and academics based in Taiwan.

Researchers visited academic and government institutions such as National Taiwan University, Taiwan Typhoon and Flood Research Institute, National Chiao Tung University, the Centre for Weather Climate and Disaster Research, the National Science and Technology Centre for Disaster Reduction and the 10th River Basin Management Office (a subordinate of Water Resource Agency, responsible for managing flood risk across the entirety of Taipei).

James visited some of Taiwan’s largest flood risk and water management engineering projects, including the Yuansantze Flood Diversion Tunnel, the Central Emergency Operation Centre and the Shihmen Reservoir.

The trip provided an opportunity for researchers to present their work to academic and industrial partners in Taiwan through a variety of workshops, seminars and conferences. This included presentations at two international conferences: The ‘International Workshop on Computation, Uncertainty and Risk Assessment in Hydroscience and Engineering’ and the ‘Taiwan Institute of Disaster Management Annual Conference’.

Significant research parallels were discussed throughout the visit, and so it is anticipated that collaboration between the researchers in Exeter and Taipei will continue into the future. James is very appreciative of the Royal Society and Ministry of Science and Technology for co-funding the trip, Professors Djordevic and Butler and Dr Chen for their organisation and Professor Chang (NTU), Dr Yang (TTFRI), Dr Ke (NTU) and Mr Chen (NTU) for organising logistics and being so welcoming when in Taiwan.