Portrait of Joost Wellens
New 2023 Lecturers Honoured
Lecturer in Integrated Water Resources Management (North and South) and Irrigation.
Could you briefly describe your background, your research topics and your conception of university teaching?
As an agricultural engineer in rural engineering (KULeuven) with a Master of Science in 'Water resources engineering' (KULeuven & VUB), I worked for 15 years in the field of development cooperation, more specifically in water management projects for agriculture; in Tunisia, Turkey, Tanzania, Senegal and Burkina Faso. My activities focused mainly on the use of GIS and remote sensing, integrated water resources management (IWRM), and the development and implementation of decision-support tools for irrigated agriculture.
I consider irrigation to be the common thread running through my professional activities. Irrigation has always fascinated me; certainly because of its technical nature, but also (and perhaps even more so) because of the impact it can have on people, how irrigation can change the life of an entire family and/or farming community.
In 2014, I joined the Environnement campus in Arlon and then the Agro-Bio Tech faculty in Gembloux, where I focus (again) on the use of decision support tools for water management, agricultural yield estimation and irrigation. I maintain my activities in developing countries through the follow-up of several applied research projects and occasional support missions. Thanks to this dual 'Arlon-Gembloux' assignment, I can combine the best of both worlds: 'hard engineering' in Gembloux focusing on irrigation techniques, water-soil-plant interaction modeling and sensor development, and 'soft engineering' in Arlon with IWRM approaches integrating social, environmental and economic aspects.
Like my colleagues, I try to pass on as much of my passion and experience (my own, but also that shared with colleagues and friends) as possible in my courses. I combine theory with practical, real-life problems, through the installation of an irrigated perimeter as a practical exercise, field placements in our various projects or immersion in the world of water management with the serious game 'Water Matters'.
