An interview with Department Chair Prof. Dr Oliver Christ about the Energy and Water Management degree programme
The challenges facing the energy and water sectors are constantly growing: climate change, digitalisation and increasing demands on security of supply are transforming entire infrastructure systems. At the same time, the boundaries between water and energy supply are becoming increasingly blurred. This is precisely where the new Bachelor’s degree programme in Energy and Water Management at Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences (HSWT) comes in.
The aim of the Bachelor’s degree programme is to train engineers who can understand complex interrelationships, think in an interdisciplinary manner and develop innovative solutions for the energy and water sectors of the future. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Oliver Christ, department chair of the Environmental Engineering department, explains why traditional engineering degrees alone will no longer be sufficient in future in a recent interview with the trade journal ‘wwt wasserwirtschaft wassertechnik’. He describes how the demands placed on skilled professionals have changed fundamentally in recent years and why water and energy systems must now be regarded as closely interlinked fields.
The effects of climate change make this shift particularly clear. Longer periods of drought, more frequent heavy rainfall events and the growing need for resilient infrastructure are presenting local authorities and utility companies with new challenges. Wastewater treatment plants are being developed into modern energy and resource hubs, whilst water supply is increasingly supported by digital control and monitoring systems.
In the interview, Prof. Christ explains what skills future professionals will need, the role played by topics such as artificial intelligence, practice-oriented university teaching and field trips, as well as systems thinking, and why the integration of the water and energy sectors will be one of the key tasks of the coming decades. The full interview is available to read online free of charge.
