Topic: Hydro(geo)logical Conceptual Research - Hedgehogs and Foxes

Speaker: Professor Okke Batelaan

Time: 9:00-10:30am June 10, 2026

Venue: Meeting Room A901, IGSNRR

Brief Introduction to the Speaker

Okke Batelaan is Strategic Professor in Hydrogeology at Flinders University since 2012. He was Dean of the School of the Environment at Flinders from 2015-2017. He was a faculty member at the Free University Brussels and the KU Leuven in Belgium for more than 20 years. Professor Batelaan has extensive experience in teaching integrated water resources management, groundwater hydrology, groundwater modelling, GIS, and remote sensing for hydrological applications.

He (co-)supervised to successful completion more than 230 students for their Master or PhD thesis. He has extensive research experience and a publication record in shallow groundwater hydrology and modeling, recharge-discharge estimation and modeling, urban hydrology and distributed modelling, ecohydrology and impacts of landuse and climate change on groundwater systems.

Brief Introduction to the Report

In this contribution, he will briefly present Flinders University and the hydro(geo)logical research of the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT). The antique text fragment on ‘Hedgehogs and foxes’ is then used to introduce the epistemology of conceptual uncertainty in their hydro(geo)logical science.

This is done by acquainting them with the contributions of various key researchers, their philosophical, literary, and historical work, as well as their recent scientific work. The focus along this journey will be on conceptual models, hypothesis testing, and the sustainability of (ground) water systems. 

Welcome to the Forum!

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