Joseph Fourier University

Graduate Student, Alpin Geography Institute

Thesis Title: (Temporary) The flash floods warning process in Vidourle catchment : how do we cope with undeterminated environment ?

Advisors: Olivier Soubeyran
Céline Lutoff

About

I am a sociologist and a graduate student in human geography, in Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble, France. My research topic is the warning process, especially for flash-floods. In order to lead an integrated (from meteo data acquisition to the riverside resident), symmetric (no hierarchy between scientific/common knowledges and practices) and diachronic (to understand a process we need to consider temporal dynamic), I use a pragmatic approach and try to share as much as possible with our physical sciences colleagues. [be careful, in french sociology, "pragmatic" does not mean exactly the same as in english !].
I would like to understand how people actually "built" the warning <=> how do we transform perceived phenomena in signs of a threat ? So I have to consider real practices of all the stakeholders : what kind of tools do they use, how, in which context, how do they make sense about the situation ("sensemaking" of K.E. Weick)....
In a larger point of view, it's a way to understand our society's relationship with environment, especially when it is threatening and indeterminated.
And one of the underlying issue is to show that to consider "what works" (and how/why?) would be more useful, in a climate change context, that to focus only on mistakes and what does not work.

If you don't understand my english ;-) or if you have a big interest in this kind of questions, feel free to ask me more details by e-mail !

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