Interview D.A. Savic - European research rolls the dice on 'serious games'

“Why some researchers are using ‘serious games’ to engage stakeholders in complicated decisions. It hasn’t rained in months. The cost of running the local sewage plant is draining finances dry. The population has almost doubled in the past few years, and an upcoming tourist season will add another 20% of visitors. And to top it all off, you’re the mayor. What do you do? Researchers in Europe have been warning for years about the stress Europe’s water systems are under. This year’s severe drought throughout southern Europe (the worst in 500 years by some estimates) drove the point home for towns and villages throughout the continent. “Water is the key medium through which climate change is showing its impact,” says Prof. Dragan Savic, CEO of the KW Research Institute in the Netherlands and Professor of Hydroinformatics at the University of Exeter in the UK. “It’s either too much water [creating] flooding or too little water [ creating] droughts.” Savic is part of the NextGen project, which is finding ways to bring circular economy principles and technological innovation to Europe’s water sector. This involves developing new ways to reuse the water that’s available – for example, filtering household wastewater to be reused in agriculture. “We need to manage both supply and demand,” says Savic. “Usually people focus on the supply only. But the amount of water is finite and we need to manage it better.””

(Citation: Interview D.A. Savic – European research rolls the dice on serious games – www. euroscientist.com (2022)21 November)