1. Universidade Nova De Lisboa (NOVA)Portugal
Founded in 1973, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (NOVA) is one of the top Portuguese higher education institutions with internationally recognized research and quality teaching. NOVA is the lead organisation on the AquaSavvy project.
CICS-NOVA
The Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences at NOVA (CICS.NOVA) brings together expertise in sociology and geography—core areas—with other social sciences and the humanities, while also forging strong connections with the life sciences, environmental sciences, and engineering.
Key members
Bernelle Verster: Project lead. Interested in the transformation of expertise; building new knowledge alliances that incorporate a wider range of expertise, considered from a feminist ethic of care.
Teresa Santos: Use of the tool in wider systems related contexts, including Urban Sustainability, Climate adaptation and Nature-Based Solutions.
Ana Pego: Using the tool to model tourism in the context of circular urban economies.
2. Aalborg Universitet (AAU)Denmark
As an interdisciplinary research institute, Department of Planning and Sustainability (PLAN) at Aalborg University (AAU) brings solid research experiences to the project team on water planning and climate adaption with NBS, everyday life social practices, future scenarios, and the role of innovative urban bureaucracy in promoting integrated design and policy agendas. The AAU research team has since 2011 been engaged in projects about innovative climate adaptation investigating the intersections between adaptation and mitigation for sustainable futures. A central activity concerns the mobilization of actors for integrated urban re-design and the development of a visual canvas approach to stage co-design and align actor knowledge.
Key members
Birgitte Hoffmann is associate professor with expertise in urban sustainable transition with a special focus on water issues and climate adaptation. With an interdisciplinary approach integrating planning theories and Science and Technology Studies (STS) her research enables a systemic perspective. Birgitte’s research focuses on staging strategic arenas in which various actors can explore and rehearse sustainable urban futures.
Maj-Britt Quitzau is an Associate Professor in the research group of Planning for Urban Sustainability at Aalborg University. She holds a PhD in environmental sociology. Her current research focuses on strategic planning in relation to climate adaptation initiatives in municipalities.
Simon Wyke is an Assistant Professor in the research group of Planning for Urban Sustainability at Aalborg University and holds a PhD in civil engineering. His current research focuses on climate adaption planning, knowledge management and informatics for urban planning and civil engineering, as well as subsurface infrastructure design, construction, and operation.
3. Root Interface AB (RI)Sweden
Root Interface AB actively collaborates with universities for research grounded in systems architecture and provides R&D to businesses, and by extension to consumers, in the field of computer science in the following domains: Virtual Worlds, Massive Online Systems, Pervasive Systems, System of Systems, Cyber Physical Systems, Metaverse including all topics that touch it (e.g. Smart Cities, AI) and Web3 related topics including Blockchain.
The company pushes for the bootstrapping of the Industry of Integrations (IOI), which is based on the unique interoperability technique called IPSME. The role of Root Interface AB in AquaSavvy is continuing fundamental research to expand IPSME and the application of IPSME/IOI to form an evolutionary architecture integrating the different participants of the project.
Key members
Kim Nevelsteen specializes in System of Systems Integration (SoSI) applied to ultra-large scale concepts like the Metaverse and Smart Cities.
4. Hogskolan Dalarna (DU)Sweden
Founded in 1977, Dalarna University is one of the Swedish fast-growing universities. Researchers from the School of Information and Engineering actively engage in interdisciplinary research that integrates data science, AI, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), transport, energy techniques and material sciences, with wide application areas focusing on sustainable urban development, smart city and transport, healthcare management, sustainable transportation and logistics, assistive technologies, cognitive sciences, and environmental monitoring. The recently established multidisciplinary Sustainable Energy Research Centre (SERC) is a supportive and dynamic platform, which will interact with and co-learn from AquaSavvy to more broadly disseminate project results and impacts.
Key members
Mengjie Han works on developing statistical methods and mathematical algorithms applied in sustainable urban energy modelling, intelligent control, and AI decision systems.
Paria Sadeghian has several years of Spatial and Temporal data analysis. She has developed extensive modelling skills in machine learning, big data by using software like Python, Matlab, and ArcGIS and established cross-functional team collaborations at DU.
5. Kungliga Tekniska Hoegskolan (KTH)Sweden
KTH is Sweden’s leading technical university. It is particularly strong in the area of architecture/ built environment, where it is ranked in place 19 globally. The QS Sustainability Rankings ranks KTH as the 77th strongest university in the world in sustainability research. The division of Urban and Regional studies (URS) is an interdisciplinary research environment and internationally recognized in the fields of planning theory and practice as well as urban and regional policy, with particular focus on sustainable urban development. A major feature of the division’s work is cooperation with a broad range of academic and practice partners.
Key members
Marcus Adolphson, researcher at the Division of Urban and Regional studies, The Royal Institute Of Technology, KTH. Adolphson brings expertise in scenario methodology to support both the refinement of the visualisation tool and the development of the necessary Institutional Capacity (IC) within municipal organisations for its implementation.
6. Bursa Teknik Üniversitesi (BTU)Turkiye
Bursa Technical University (BTU) is a public research institution established in 2010 in Bursa, Türkiye. As the country’s fifth technical university, BTU emphasizes innovation, entrepreneurship, and applied sciences. It comprises six faculties, including Engineering and Natural Sciences, Architecture and Design, and Humanities and Social Sciences, along with a graduate school and a School of Foreign Languages.
Key members
Gökhan Gökmen‘s (PhD) academic background in strategy and organisation as well as his experience in the role of creativity in scenario development workshops, interview and analysis align well with the transdisciplinary and practice-oriented nature of AquaSavvy.
7. Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyesi (BBB)Turkiye
Bursa Metropolitan Municipality is a leading local authority in Türkiye, serving over 3 million residents through innovative, sustainable, and citizen-focused solutions. With a strong track record in smart city practices, sustainable water management, rural innovation, and digital transformation, Bursa actively contributes to national and international projects aligned with the SDGs and European Green Deal priorities. Within this project, BBB will coordinate the urban living lab in Nilüfer, providing a local testbed for water-sensitive urban design, digital twin applications, and citizen participation.
We will also support the AquaSavvy Urban Landscape Art & Design Competition, mobilizing local stakeholders, students, and creatives to engage in reimagining urban spaces around water cycles. Bursa will also contribute to the virtual knowledge-sharing community, ensuring the tools and insights generated are practical, accessible, and grounded in real municipal needs.
Key members
Salih Sadık Yaşar is an Environmental Engineer and the Research, Development and Innovation Branch Manager at Bursa Metropolitan Municipality.
İsmail Hasiryapan is a Project Development Specialist at the R&D and Innovation Department of Bursa Metropolitan Municipality, focusing on national and international grant projects for public institutions, academia, and civil society.
Tahir Koyuncu is a Project Development Specialist at the R&D and Innovation Department of Bursa Metropolitan Municipality. He holds a degree in Psychological Counseling from Uludağ University and a certificate in Creative Drama Leadership, which he actively incorporates into his approach to project design and stakeholder engagement.
Associated Stakeholders and Their Contributions to the Project:
- BURFAŞ (Bursa Parks, Gardens, Social and Cultural Services), a subsidiary of the Bursa Metropolitan Municipality, will serve as a key logistical and operational support actor during the project’s implementation phase.
- HAVELSAN will provide expert support in the processing and integration of data generated through scenario-based applications developed within the scope of the project, ensuring seamless compatibility with Bursa’s existing IoT systems and managing the technical infrastructure required for data-driven testing environments.
8. Genskabet (ORØ) Denmark
Genskabet, which translates into Re-created, is a community-driven association on Orø that works with how to lower CO2 footprint, sustainable consumption and circular practices through the organization of recycling and sharing schemes, courses, workshops, lectures and discussion meetings. Genskabet draws on a large network of resources, both volunteers and paid freelancers, with practical and academic skills. Genskabet collaborates with the Municipality and utility companies etc. and contributes to knowledge sharing and dissemination about sustainable practices. This ambition is a key driver behind our participation in the AquaSavvy Project.
Key members
Siri Reiter is the chair person of Genskabet and contributing as an activity and communications coordinator and facilitator at Genskabet, with a background in graphic design and illustration.
Henrik Buhl is an engineer (PhD) working with industrial sociology and regenerative development, emphasising technology implementation. He is creating and facilitating socio-technical experiments with focus on practice and user/employee participation. Henrik is on the board of Genskabet.
Jonas Smedegaard is a system administrator, developer and software curator for decades. His experience gives him a broad knowledge of sustainable software strategies. Jonas is particularly invested in data-centric yet subsidiarity-decentral systems design, based on RDF and Open World Assumption domain modelling.