Water Wisdom: Developing Local-Global Capacities in Managing Water

项目描述（由申请人提供）：水智慧：发展本地和全球管理水的能力。北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校（UNC）提出了一个项目，招收博士后研究人员进行跨学科研究，以解决与美国和国际水与卫生（WatSan）项目相关的信息和决策。这项工作建立了博士后研究人员的能力，建立了跨学科的伙伴关系，并为基于问题的研究奠定了基础。我们提出了四个相互关联的研究活动，以解决以下问题：现有的用于创建、收集、整合和向那些为WatSan服务提供贡献的人传递信息的系统不足，导致物理和制度系统失败，政策目标未实现，未充分采用和应用已证明的良好做法，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，由于缺乏适当的卫生服务而死亡或患上可预防的疾病。这项研究为全面了解美国的政策制定者和从业人员如何使用信息迈出了第一步，并将为信息技术发展的应用提供机会，这些发展可以在发展中国家和发达国家带来更有效和更强大的系统。这项研究合作将涉及北卡罗来纳大学吉灵斯全球公共卫生学院（环境科学与工程，全球卫生办公室，水研究所），凯南-弗拉格勒商学院，艺术与科学学院（公共政策系），以及复兴计算倡议（RENCI）和南非开普敦大学土木工程系。拟议的计划的目标将会。建立一个博士后研究团队，研究水和卫生领域的决策、组织行为和信息技术。2. 为北卡罗来纳大学全球公共卫生领域的跨学科博士后研究人员建立研究能力。

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.