Water Wisdom: Developing Local-Global Capacities in Managing Water

描述(由申请者提供)：水智慧：发展当地-全球管理水的能力。北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校(UNC)提出了一项计划，让博士后研究人员参与跨学科研究，以处理与美国和国际水与卫生(WatSan)计划相关的信息和决策。这项工作建立了博士后研究人员的能力，建立了跨学科伙伴关系，并为以问题为基础的研究奠定了基础。我们建议开展四项相互关联的研究活动，以解决以下问题：现有的创建、收集、整合信息并将其传输给WatSan服务提供者的系统不足，导致实体和机构系统失败，政策目标未实现，对经过验证的良好做法的采用和应用不足，以及缺乏明确的前进方向。这些失败意味着每年有数百万人，主要是儿童，因为缺乏足够的WatSan服务而死亡或死于可预防的原因。这项研究为全面了解WatSan的政策制定者和从业人员如何使用信息迈出了第一步，并将提出应用信息技术(IT)的发展可以在发展中国家和发达国家产生更有效和更强大的系统的机会。这项研究合作将涉及吉林斯大学全球公共卫生学院(环境科学与工程学、全球卫生办公室、水研究所)、凯南-弗拉格勒商学院和艺术与科学学院(公共政策系)的单位，以及文艺复兴计算倡议(RENCI)和南非开普敦大学土木工程系。该计划的目标是：1.建立一支博士后研究团队，研究水和卫生领域的决策、组织行为和信息技术。2.培养北卡罗来纳大学跨学科博士后研究人员在全球公共卫生方面的研究能力。 公共卫生相关性：。水智慧的潜在影响很大；及时和客观的证据为政策和方案提供更好的信息，可以极大地改善数百万人的生活，目前没有足够的水或卫生系统。即使对政策制定产生很小的影响，也有可能给全球公共卫生带来实质性的好处。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Water Wisdom: Developing Local-Global Capacities in Managing Water. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) proposes a program to engage postdoctoral investigators in interdisciplinary research to address information and decision making related to U.S. and international water and sanitation (WatSan) programs. This work builds capacity among postdoctoral researchers, creates interdisciplinary partnerships, and establishes a foundation for problem-based research. We propose four connected research activities to address the following problem: The systems in place to create, collect, consolidate, and transmit information to those who contribute to WatSan service provision are inadequate, resulting in failed physical and institutional systems, unmet policy goals, insufficient adoption and application of proven good practices, and a lack of a clear direction forward. These failures mean that millions of people, primarily children, die or suffer from preventable causes each year because of a lack of adequate WatSan services. This research takes the first steps in formulating a comprehensive understanding of how information is used by policy makers and practitioners in WatSan and will suggest opportunities where application of developments in information technology (IT) could lead to more effective and robust systems in both developing and developed nations. This research collaboration will involve units at UNC in the Gillings School of Global Public Health (Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Office of Global Health, Water Institute), the Kenan-Flagler Business School, and the College of Arts and Sciences (Department of Public Policy), as well as the Renaissance Computing Initiative (RENCI) and the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. The aims of the proposed program will 1. Create a team of postdoctoral researchers to address decision making, organizational behavior and information technology in water and sanitation. 2. Create research capacity for interdisciplinary postdoctoral researchers at UNC in global public health. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE:. The potential impact of Water Wisdom is high; policies and programs that are better informed by timely and objective evidence can result in dramatic improvement in the lives of millions of people currently unserved by adequate water or sanitation systems. Even a small impact on policy making has the potential for substantive global public health gains.