This week for the King’s Human Geography Seminar Series, Professor Bruce Lankford from the University of East Anglia will lead an interactive session exploring the potential for role-playing games in water science and policy. Join us at 4:30pm in the Pyramid Room (4th Floor, King’s Building, Strand Campus). The event is free and open to the public. A wine reception will follow.
Role-playing games in water: Cultivating a phenomenological understanding of catchment and irrigation equity and efficiency? Or simply icebreakers?
Bruce Lankford, University of East Anglia
Wednesday 9 November 2016
4:30pm, Pyramid Room
Bruce Lankford is Professor of Water and Irrigation Policy at the University of East Anglia with more than 30 years’ experience in agriculture, irrigation and water resources management. His research covers irrigation management in Sub-Saharan Africa, large-scale irrigation systems, the use of role-playing games in natural resource management, resource use efficiency, river basin management, and water allocation.
The River Basin Game (RBG) is a role-playing tool for promoting dialogue and decision-making over water resources where irrigation is present. The RBG is a physical representation of a catchment. The board has a slope and uses glass marbles to reflect how flows of water can favour upstream users. This difference often gives rise to inequality in water access for rural people, which can result in conflict. Seminar participants will engage in a shortened version of the RBG and discuss whether and how role-playing games can aid in equitable policymaking.
