Dr Joseph Guillaume
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About
Dr Joseph Guillaume is a Research Fellow in the Institute for Water Futures and the Fenner School of Environment & Society.
Dr Guillaume specialises in uncertainty management in decision support, with a particular focus on water resources and the use of integrated modelling. As part of an interdisciplinary approach, research includes development of new algorithms and tools for uncertainty analysis and decision support, modelling, text analysis, interviews and workshop based approaches to understanding current uncertainty management practices, and action research exploring alternative futures and institutional arrangements to improve organisational capacity to tackle an uncertain future.
A collaborative approach to research is preferred, working closely with industry and government partners, as well as undergraduate (special topics and Advanced Studies Courses), Honours, Masters and PhD students. Dr Guillaume is always keen to hear from good students and to collaboratively develop topics of mutual interest.
Dr Guillaume previously worked at the Water and Development Research Group at Aalto University (2014-2019), and holds an ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) focused on advancing uncertainty prioritisation in water resource management. He is Associate Editor for Journal of Hydrology and on the Editorial Boards of Environmental Modelling & Software and Frontiers in Water: Water and the Critical Zone.
Water management is at a turning point in how it tackles uncertain futures - we have an opportunity for substantial changes for the better.
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Research interests
My interests are focused on how we manage uncertainty. Fit for purpose handling of uncertainty is central to both effective decision making and credible research. There are real opportunities to improve current practice in ways that increase confidence and trust in decision making while reducing its cost. The foundations have already been laid in the form of uncertainty analysis techniques, frameworks for decision making under uncertainty, and recognition of the importance of knowledge governance arrangements. In the field of water in particular, uncertainty in models plays a central role, but the biggest advances recently have come from making explicit how models are used in decision making, and tailoring modelling work given its role in the decision making process as a whole. The interdisciplinary team in the Institute for Water Futures and relationships with our partners gives us an unprecedented opportunity to make further progress in this direction.