A Hydrologist’s Journey into the Circular Economy

Greetings, dear readers! I am David Peres, an Assistant Professor at the University of Catania (UNICT), deeply passionate about hydrology and water resources management. I am thrilled to share with you my exciting journey as I embarked on a secondment at the Academy of Business in Society (ABIS), delving into the world of the circular economy, thanks to ExPliCit.

It was very nice to meet the ABIS team, with Karolina and Giulia introducing me to their office based at Silversquare Bailli. In the following days, I had the opportunity to meet ABIS CEO Ivo, and the other ABIS team members, Katarina and Antonino. I feel very fortunate to be here during the simultaneous secondments of Abiye and Tommaso from the University of Sheffield. Tommaso will stay for a longer period and is very enthusiastic about the ExPliCit project, so I was delighted to get his views on the project and the activities to be carried out.

During my secondment, I am contributing to WP3 (led by the University of Seville, USE), which is mainly concerned with the development of in-depth case studies from the non-academic partners, related to supply chain modeling. This WP will operationalize the supply chain configurations identified in WP2, providing insights to partners and wider stakeholders’ groups about disruptive market changes that could be introduced by a transition towards a circular economy and ways to reorganize supply networks. Specifically, I have been in contact with an important stakeholder from the water supply sector in Italy, which is very concerned with sustainability and the circular economy, as demonstrated by the fact that they have developed and published a Sustainability Report, declaring the values, the governance model, and the actions taken to promote sustainable development creating shared value. They will get involved by first playing the Scenario Exploration System (SES) within a taster session in September. Their view will contribute to expanding the spectrum of views respecting that given by non-academic partners within ExPliCit in a transversal and key sector such as water resources management.

I am also eager to contribute to WP1 by helping ABIS and the other secondees tailor the SES board game to explore CE futures. Specifically, we have started to write some storylines focused on PESTEL dimensions, i.e., Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal. Focusing on the Environmental dimension, I have written down some ideas about how water availability, reduced by climate change and the consequent increased drought frequency, may affect our future and what the possible reactions by society, economy, and politics would be. This will contribute to the development of the final scenarios that will be included in the game. Despite my background being quite different from that of my adventure buddies, I was very excited about the multidisciplinary discussions, learning new things from the business management sector, and sharing my expertise about natural resources availability and climate change as well.

Last but not least, by visiting Brussels, which is, in fact, the de facto capital of Europe, and living near the headquarters for major EU institutions, I had the chance to see with my own eyes the remarkable efforts to bring Europe together. Additionally, the EU’s commitment to sustainable development and environmental conservation is evident in the city’s eco-friendly initiatives and green spaces. It is unfortunate that my journey is coming to an end, as Brussels and Belgium, in general, are such wonderful multicultural places!