Skip to content
University of Oxford
School of Geography and the Environment

 School of Geography and the Environment

IGS: Current and Recent Graduate Research

Haiyan (Helen) Yu

Sustainable water management for water and food security in a changing world: a comparative study between arid rural communities of China and India

Supervisor(s):
Contact Info:

Academic Profile

Yan is currently a DPhil student at the School of Geography and the Environment, and is a member of the Oxford Water Futures Programme. She commenced her DPhil study at the University of Oxford in October 2010. She has a strong interest in sustainable water management and food security in arid and semi-arid regions, and especially in rural regions and communities.

Current Research

Water, food and development have been intimately and inextricably linked since the beginning of human civilization. However, today, in an era with unprecedented advanced technologies and highly-developed societies, over 1 billion of people have no access to drinking water, more than 2 billion struggling for adequate sanitation, and millions of the world citizens are suffering or dying from hunger every day.

Yan's DPhil research explores integrated water management and food sustainability and compares research about food and water security between China and India. It aims to investigate practical solutions for further improvements in water management, water productivity and the realization of food-secure rural livelihoods in arid and semi-arid regions in a more productive, resilient and sustainable way.

Towards this aim, the following themes will be explored:

  1. What are the root causes of water and food crisis in areas of China and India?
  2. How can water use efficiency and water management be improved and food security realised?
  3. What are the roles of government, NGOs, the weak groups and especially women in this process?
  4. How could the rural community with limited resources tackle changing climate and realize sustainable development, rather than deserting lands, going to the city, or becoming nomads?