Urban Systems

ZWU

The ZWU has 125 members and brings together the research on water and the environment at the University of Duisburg-Essen and knowledge within the University Alliance Ruhr and its partner universities (Ruhr University Bochum, TU Dortmund), several universities of applied sciences (e.g. Hochschule Ruhr West, EBZ Business School), and regional water management. The goal of the ZWU is to advance modern environmental science that connects the environment to global social changes and integrates their impact on humanity (population growth, urbanization and megacities, global and climate change, air quality, availability of water, mobility, sustainable energy supplies, etc.). This research is primarily interdisciplinary and ranges from natural sciences and engineering via medicine to economics and the social sciences. The ZWU has a focus on water research with a broad expertise in the areas of water ecology, water treatment and distribution (contamination, evaluation, rehabilitation), environmental toxicology and chemistry, water management and urban water management, hydrology, hydraulic engineering, and water governance including its legal and economic ramifications.

The current chairman is Prof. Torsten C. Schmidt, the managing director is Dr. Michael Eisinger (www.uni-due.de/zwu).