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Declan Conway
Professorial Research Fellow
Declan Conway joined the Grantham Research Institute as a Professorial Research Fellow on the 28th October 2013.
Background
Declan’s research cuts across water, climate and society, with a strong focus on adaptation and international development. Originally a geographer, Declan draws on insights from different disciplines to pursue problem focused research. He has over 20 years experience working in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia (particularly China). Declan’s research funding has included the EU, UK departments DFID, Defra and DECC, UK NERC and ESRC, US NSF and the World Bank.
- Chair of the Programme Executive Board of UPGro; Unlocking the Potential for Groundwater in sub-Saharan Africa
- Co-editor in Chief of Global Environmental Change
- Member International Programme Advisory Committee NERC-ESRC-DFID ESPA Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation
- Programme Lead of the Adaptation and Resources Group in GRI
Research Interests
- Water security and climate change
- Adaptation and development
- Water-energy-food Nexus
- China and climate change
- Nile Basin and climate change
Prospective PhD Students
Declan welcomes prospective PhD students and can be contacted with ideas related to any of the above areas. He is particularly interested in novel/unusual ideas that cut across disciplines.
– Visit the ‘Study with us’ page for further information on applying to be a PhD student with us.
Co-benefits and trade-offs in the water–energy nexus of irrigation modernization in China
There are strong interdependencies between water use in agriculture and energy consumption as water saving technologies can require increased pumping and pressurizing. The Chinese Government includes water efficiency improvement … read more »
Regional disparities in the beneficial effects of rising CO2 concentrations on crop water productivity
Rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations ([CO2]) are expected to enhance photosynthesis and reduce crop water use. However, there is high uncertainty about the global implications of these effects for future … read more »
Water resources transfers through southern African food trade: water efficiency and climate signals
We combine global hydrological model simulations with international food trade data to quantify the water resources embedded in international food trade in southern Africa and with the rest of the world, from 1986–2011. read more »
2015
Invention and diffusion of water supply and water efficiency technologies: insights from a global patent dataset
This paper identifies over 50,000 patents filed worldwide in various water-related technologies between 1990 and 2010, distinguishing between those related to availability (supply) and conservation (demand) technologies. Patenting activity is … read more »
Climate and southern Africa's water–energy–food nexus
In southern Africa, the connections between climate and the water–energy–food nexus are strong. Physical and socioeconomic exposure to climate is high in many areas and in crucial economic sectors. Spatial … read more »
Tracing the water-energy-food nexus: description, theory and practice
The ‘nexus’ between water, energy and food (WEF) has gained increasing attention globally in research, business and policy spheres. We review the premise of recent initiatives framed around the nexus, … read more »
Invention and diffusion of water supply and water efficiency technologies: insights from a global patent dataset
This paper identifies over 50 000 patents filed worldwide in various water-related technologies between 1990 and 2010, distinguishing between those related to availability (supply) and conservation (demand) technologies. read more »
2014
Social vulnerability in three high-poverty climate change hot spots: What does the climate change literature tell us?
This paper reviews the state of knowledge on social vulnerability to climate change in three hot spots (deltas, semi-arid regions and snowpack- or glacier-fed river basins) in Africa, Central Asia and South Asia, using elements of systematic review methods. read more »
Climate change and International River Boundaries: fixed points in shifting sands
We review the historical and legal role of International River Boundaries highlighting the paradox that exists between the stability needed for a boundary and the dynamism of fluvial landscapes in a changing climate. read more »
Strategies for improving adaptation practice in developing countries
The international community's support for adaptation in developing countries has proliferated through numerous complementary funding mechanisms. A range of serious practical issues are emerging, however, as adaptation moves from theory and international negotiation to implementation. We identify three areas deserving greater scrutiny: in-country priorities, entry points and delivery systems, and provide recommendations for improving adaptation practice. These concerns, if not addressed, have the potential to hamper attempts at effective delivery and to increase the vulnerability of intended beneficiaries of the adaptation agenda. read more »
Global crop yield response to extreme heat stress under multiple climate change futures
This study applies the global crop model PEGASUS to quantify, for the first time at the global scale, impacts of extreme heat stress on maize, spring wheat and soybean yields resulting from 72 climate change scenarios for the 21st century. read more »
Global Environmental Change: taking stock at a time of transition
Conway, D., Barnett, J., Betsill, M.M., Lebel, L. and Seto, K.C. (2014). Global Environmental Change 25, 1-4.
How can Africa’s SMEs become more resilient to climatic disruption?
A new Grantham Research Institute project is exploring the impact of El Niño and La Niña events on small-and medium-sized enterprises in Africa. read more »
Global Environmental Change journal sees boost in Impact Factor
Global Environmental Change, whose co-editor-in-chief is Delcan Conway, saw a 5.679 increase in its Impact Factor during 2015. Global Environmental Change is a peer-reviewed international journal publishing high quality, theoretically … read more »
Invention and diffusion of water supply and water efficiency technologies: Insights from a global patent dataset
How technology can address the challenge of global water security. read more »
2015
Physical and political impacts: Complex river boundaries at risk
Many international river basins are suffering from climate-driven impacts, with implications for national security. Now, research highlights the need to analyse shifting river boundaries to better understand potential socio-political threats. read more »
Grantham Research Institute to lead consortium on climate variability and change in central and southern Africa
The Institute is to lead one of the five research consortia that form the Future Climate for Africa (FCFA) Programme, funded by the UK’s Department for International Development and the Natural Environment Research Council. read more »
Climate is critical in southern Africa’s water-energy-food nexus
Professorial Research Fellow, Declan Conway, writes about the recent upsurge in research and policy interest in natural resource scarcity, particularly in relation to the water-energy-food nexus. read more »
What scale for water governance?
Declan Conway is among a number of leading experts in the field to contribute to a series of essays debating key issues in freshwater research and management in Science magazine. read more »
Policy: Hard choices and soft outcomes?
Asia's mega-deltas are densely populated and face multiple stressors including upstream development and sea-level rise. Adapting to these challenges requires difficult choices between hard and soft responses set within a strongly political context. read more »
2014
Global Environmental Change
LSE adminsinistered journal ranked as the highest impact journal in the environmental sciences. read more »
A nexus approach to global challenges
Resource challenges are highly interconnected. Can the idea of a food-energy-water ‘nexus’ become more than another buzzword, and help us to identify solutions? The Guardian
2015
Green Growth and the New Industrial Revolution
Keynote Speakers Professor Cameron Hepburn, University of Oxford and Grantham Research Institute Simon Upton, Environment Director, OECD Chairs Professor Dame Judith Rees, Grantham Research Institute Professor Sam Fankhauser, Grantham Research … read more »
