Kathleen Harriden

B. As (Thai) (ANU), B. Sc (ANU), GradDip. PA (Canberra), M. A. (As) (ANU), M. Geog (ANU)
PhD Student

Kate is an advocate of multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research, as evidenced in much of her previous research from slums as environmental actors to opening the black box of intra-household water use.  She is particularly interested in including traditional ecological knowledge in contemporary urban water management practices and policy development.  She will continue combining water science with social science during her PhD research.

Kate is the current holder of the Icon Water Aspi Baria Scholarship.  She has held positions on a number of committees, including the Aust. Water Assoc. (AWA) ACT Branch Committee and the Aust. Assoc. for Environmental Education (AAEE) ACT and National committees.

Her Master of Geographical Sciences sub-thesis, “Fluid boundaries: the hyporheic zone of a tropical, tidal river”, investigated the hyporheic zone of a small site on the Bang Pakong River, Thailand.  Whereas her Master of Arts (Asian Studies) sub-thesis, “Stormwater: why waste it”, examined the influence of different ecological knowledge systems on the way stormwater is perceived and valued.

Kate has worked both as an independent researcher and held a number of positions across all levels of government.  This PhD project was inspired by her most recent public sector position, in the ACT Government's Healthy Waterways project.  The Healthy Waterways project will see the construction of a series of water sensitive infrastructure projects, across a number of catchments, to contribute to improved water quality in the Murrumbidgee Catchment. 

While working as an independent researcher, Kate developed a water diary, variations of which are now widely used in many research projects examining intra-household water flows.  This research lead her to a guest lecturer role in a post-graduate ANU unit, Exploring Gender and Development, from 2008 - 2012.  She was also the co-ordinator of the organizing committee for the international conference on water’s social dimensions "Tapping the Turn", held at ANU in 2012 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM0sk2Z6wSc).  Kate was a guest editor of the Tapping the Turn special edition of the Australasian Journal of Environmental Management (V. 20 No. 3 2013).  From 2009 - 2014 she was the co-ordinator of the international network of household water use researchers.  She has also translated children’s books (from English to Thai) and fables and folk tales (from Thai to English), that are in the process of being published.

Research interests

Thesis Title

Is there a role for storm water channels in a water sensitive world?

Thesis Description

This research asks if small-scale in-channel modifications of storm water channels can allow these channels to contribute effectively to the goals and priorities of water sensitive urban water management paradigms.  Critiques of currently operating water sensitive infrastructure in Australia and Singapore and case studies of traditional ecological knowledge (from Thailand and Aboriginal Australia) will be used to identify potential in-channel modifications.

Those options identified will be tested in the field, to see if there is a role for storm water channels in a water sensitive world.

Kate has published a number of journal papers, book chapters and book reviews, including:

Water Use Diaries: A Tool for Household Water Management (in press)  Chapter co-authored with Dr M. Graymore in Walter Leal and Vakur Sümer (eds) Sustainable Water Management in Inland and Transboundary River Basins.

Big Water needs ‘little’ people: improving water resource management by including households 2014 International Journal of Water Special edition: Why Isn’t Water Research and Management Working?  Vol. 8 No. 2 p. 111-127

Water Diary: a participatory approach to generating gender disaggregated intra-household water use data 2013 International Journal of Water Special edition: New Alternatives for Water Management and Research Vol. 7 No. 4 p. 277-293

Water Diaries: generate intra-household water use data – generate water use behaviour change 2013 Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development Vol. 3 No. 1 p. 70-80

The Water Diary: a participatory household water use research method 2012 Chapter in Graymore et al (eds) Managing a scarce water resource through reform, conservation and adaptation Widcorp Publications

Potential impacts of slum urbanisation on channel bank storage in the Bang Pakong River, Thailand 2012 Water Practice and Technology Vol. 7 No. 4

Without households, water management is not integrated 2012 Water Practice and Technology Vol. 7 No. 1

A Methodology for Differentiating (Measuring Gender) Intra-household Water Use: Water Diary 2008 Final Research Project Report 2009 Gender and Water Alliance http://www.water.anu.edu.au/pdf/2009/final_report_waterdiary.pdf

Act on Gender: A peep into intra-household water use in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Region 2008 Rural Society Journal Vol. 17 No. 3 Dec.  Co-authored with Dr. K. Lahiri-Dutt

Stormwater in Thailand: A Potted History 2008 Water Vol. 35 No. 2 March p. 129-131