Graduation of one of TRANSCEND’s PhD researchers – Deepal Doshi

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On October 30th 2024, Deepal Doshi, a PhD candidate of the TRANSCEND project, supervised by Prof. Dr. Matthias Garschagen, successfully defended her PhD research titled “Social contracts for adaptation to climate change – Conceptual contributions, methodological innovations, and empirical insights from flood risk management in Mumbai”.

The study adopted a conceptual lens of social contracts to understand different actors’ priorities and expectations on what they envision to achieve in adaptation and the roadmap to get there – i.e. the expected distribution of roles and responsibilities. The study draws on the empirical context of flood risk management in Mumbai to address these questions. Methodologically, the research draws on a mixed-methods approach by combining social listening using Twitter data, semi-structured key informant interviews, and participant observation to understand and assess social contracts for adaptation. Three key publications contributed to this cumulative dissertation:

In the first publication, we explored using social listening on Twitter to assess actors’ expected roles and responsibilities for flood risk management in Mumbai: Link

A major step on the way to shaping coherent social contracts is understanding how different actors evaluate their perceived adaptation solution spaces. The second paper builds on the IPCC’s current multi-dimensional feasibility assessment by including actor perspectives and distinguishing desirability from feasibility: Link

The third publication makes a conceptual and empirical contribution by focusing on how actors’ desired adaptation objectives shape their perceived roles and responsibilities: Link

The disputation included a 30-minute presentation which was followed by a rigorous round of questioning from the six committee members and the audience. The committee was comprised of Prof. Dr. Matthias Garschagen (first supervisor), Prof. Dr. Imke Hoppe (second reviewer), Prof. Dr. Henrike Rau (leader of the commission), Prof. Dr. Miranda Schreurs (TUM), Prof. Dr. Ralf Ludwig and Prof. Dr. Aaron Bufe. Finally, the grade for the PhD was announced. Deepal also received a traditional German ‘Doktorhut’, which was creatively designed by her colleagues. The successful graduation was rounded off by a small celebration in the institute. This event marked an important milestone in my doctoral journey, but it is certainly one that has not been walked alone and my deepest gratitude goes to my first supervisor Prof. Dr. Matthias Garschagen, my second supervisor Prof. Dr. Imke Hoppe, the doctoral examination commission, the wonderful TRANSCEND project team and the larger HER team at the Department of Geography, LMU.