Professor Rob Hope

Profile

Professor Rob Hope is Director of the Water Security Initiative at the School of Geography and the Environment and Director of the Water Programme at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. His research interests focus on water policy, poverty and economics, largely in Africa and Asia.

He is Director of the REACH programme, a member of ESRC's International Development Expert Group for the Global Challenges Research Programme, and a member of an expert consultative group on global monitoring and WASH affordability convened by UNICEF and the WHO.

In 2018, he was part of a research team with Engineering Science which won the inaugural University of Oxford's Vice Chancellor's Innovation Awardfor the 'smart handpumps' project.

He is the Academic Director for the MSc Water Science, Policy and Management (2020-present), formerly Course Director (2006-13), and supervises a group of outstanding DPhil/PhD students. He is a Trustee of Water Services Maintenance Trust Fund in Kenya and the Uptime Water Facility.

Current research projects

• REACH - Improving Water Security for the Poor (FCDO, 2015-2024)
• Water Security and Sustainable Development Hub (GCRF, 2019-2024)
• NEWAVE - Water Governance (EU, 2019-22)
• Uptime (2018-ongoing)
• Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership (USAID, 2017-21)

Teaching

Graduate research students

• Caroline King (NERC) | Oasis ecosystems, global change and human development in north Africa (co-supervisor, Prof D. Thomas, SoGE) | 2008-12 (completed)
• Alvar Closas | Burning water: institutions, technology, statecraft and the production of water scarcity Spain | 2009-13 (completed)
• Alexandra Girard (Hay) | Women, Water and Work in Rural India | 2009-14 (completed)
• Aaron Krolikowski (Clarendon) | Wireless Water - impacts and implications of mobile water payment innovations in Dar Es Salaam | 2011-14 (completed)
• Alex Money | Corporate water risk and return (co-supervisor, Prof G.L. Clark, SSEE) | 2010-2014 (completed)
• Tim Foster (ESRC) | From cash flows to water flows - new models for rural water sustainability in Africa | 2012-2016 (completed)
• Johanna Koehler (Clarendon) | Water Risks and Institutional Change in Kenya | 2014-2018 (completed)
• Jacob Katuva (BASE/Oxford) | Water and Welfare in Coastal Kenya | 2014-2020 (completed)
• Heloise Greeff (UNICEF) | Condition monitoring methods to predict handpump failure in rural Africa (Lead supervisor - Prof Clifton, EngSci) | 2015-2020 (submitted)
• Alex Fischer | Building water secure institutions in rural Bangladesh | 2015-2019 (completed)
• Ranu Sinha (OIC, Somerville) | Irrigation infrastructure, institutions and poverty in India (co-supervisor - Prof Dadson, SoGE) | 2015-2020 (submitted)
• Rebecca Peters (Marshall & REACH) | Normalized non-compliance - regulation of river pollution in Dhaka, Bangladesh | 2017-present
• Andrew Armstrong | Financing rural piped water | 2019-present
• Johannes Wagner (EU NEWAVE) | Rural Water Finance | 2020- present
• Sandra Serumaga-Zake | Water Infrastructure Finance in sub-Saharan Africa | 2022

Selected publications

Books

• Dadson, S.J., Garrick, D.E., Penning-Rowsell, E.C., Hall, J.W., Hope, R. and Hughes, J. (eds.) (2019) Water Science, Policy, and Management: A Global Challenge. John Wiley and Sons Ltd. ISBN: 9781119520603.

Journal articles

• Armstrong, A., Hope, R. and Munday, C. (2021) Monitoring socio-climatic interactions to prioritise drinking water interventions in rural Africa. npj Clean Water, 4(10).
• Grasham, C.F., Calow, R., Casey, V., Charles, K.J., de Wit, S., Dyer, E., Fullwood-Thomas, J., Hirons, M., Hope, R., Hoque, S.F., Jepson, W., Korzenevica, M., Murphy, R., Plastow, J., Ross, I., Ruiz-Apilánez, I., Schipper, E.L.F., Trevor, J., Walmsley, N. and Zaidi, H. (2021) Engaging with the politics of climate resilience towards clean water and sanitation for all. npj Clean Water, 4(42).
• Hope, R. and Ballon, P. (2021) Individual choices and universal rights for drinking water in rural Africa. PNAS, 118(40). e2105953118.
• Hoque, S., Peters, R., Whitehead, P., Hope, R. and Hossain, M.A. (2021) River pollution and social inequalities in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Environmental Research Communications, 3(9). 095003.
• Roman, O., Hoque, S.F., Ford, L., Salehin, M., Alam, M.M., Hope, R. and Hall, J.W. (2021) Optimizing rural drinking water supply infrastructure to account for spatial variations in groundwater quality and household poverty in coastal Bangladesh. Water Resources Research, 57(8). e2021WR029621.
• Sinha, R., Borgomeo, E., Fischer, C. and Hope, R. (2021) Do rehabilitated canals influence irrigation technology choices? Evidence from smallholders in Madhya Pradesh, India. Water Economics and Policy.
• Ferrer Ramos, N. Folch, A., Fernandez-Garcia, D., Lane, M., Thomas, M., Mwangi Gathenya, J., Wara, C., Thomson, P., Custodio, E. and Hope, R. (2020) Evidence of groundwater vulnerability to climate variability and economic growth in coastal Kenya. Journal of Hydrology, 586. 124920.
• Fischer, A., Hope, R., Manandhar, A., Hoque, S., Hakim, S.A., Foster, T., Islam, S. and Bradley, D. (2020) Risky responsibilities for rural drinking water institutions: the case of unregulated self-supply in Bangladesh. Global Environmental Change, 65. 102152.
• Hope, R., Thomson, P., Koehler, J. and Foster, T. (2020) Rethinking the economics of rural water in Africa. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 36(1): 171-190.
• Katuva, J., Hope, R., Foster, T., Koehler, J. and Thomson, P. (2020) Groundwater and welfare: A conceptual framework applied to coastal Kenya. Groundwater for Sustainable Development, 10.
• Katuva, J., Hope, R., Foster, T., Koehler, J. and Thomson, P. (2020) Modelling Welfare Transitions to Prioritise Sustainable Development Interventions in Coastal Kenya. Sustainability, 12(17). 6943.
• Koehler, J., Thomson, P., Goodall, S., Katuva, J. and Hope, R. (2020) Institutional pluralism and water user behavior in rural Africa. World Development. 105231.
• Manandhar, A., Fischer, A., Bradley, D.J., Salehin, M., Islam, M.S., Hope, R. and Clifton, D.A. (2020) Machine Learning to Evaluate Impacts of Flood Protection in Bangladesh, 1983-2014. Water, 12(2).
• Manandhar, A., Greeff, H., Thomson, P., Hope, R. and Clifton, D. (2020) Shallow aquifer monitoring using handpump vibration data. Journal of Hydrology X, 8. 100057.
• Manandhar, A., Greeff, H., Thomson, P., Hope, R. and Clifton, D.A. (2020) Shallow aquifer monitoring using handpump vibration data. Journal of Hydrology X, 8. 100057.
• Ramos, N., Folch, A., Fernàndez-Garcia, D., Lane, M., Thomas, M., Gathenya, J., Wara, C., Thomson, P., Custodio, E. and Hope, R. (2020) Evidence of groundwater vulnerability to climate variability and economic growth in coastal Kenya. Journal of Hydrology, 586. 124920.
• Rampley, C.P.N., Whitehead, P.G., Softley, L., Hossain, M.A., Jin, L., David, J., Shawal, S., Das, P., Thompson, I.P., Huang, W.E., Peters, R., Holdship, P., Hope, R. and Alabaster, G. (2020) River toxicity assessment using molecular biosensors: Heavy metal contamination in the Turag-Balu-Buriganga river systems, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Science of The Total Environment, 703. 134760.
• Ferrer, N., Folch, A., Lane, M., Olago, D., Katuva, J., Thomson, P., Jou, S., Hope, R. and Custodio, E. (2019) How does water-reliant industry affect groundwater systems in coastal Kenya? Science of The Total Environment, 694.
• Hope, R. and Ballon, P. (2019) Global water policy and local payment choices in rural Africa. npj Clean Water, 2(21).
• Hoque, S. F. and Hope, R. (2019) Examining the economics of affordability through water diaries in coastal Bangladesh. Water Economics and Policy, 6(03).
• Hoque, S.F., Hope, R., Arif, S.T., Akhter, T., Naz, M. and Salehin, M. (2019) A social-ecological analysis of drinking water risks in coastal Bangladesh. Science of the Total Environment, 679: 23-34.
• Sharma, P., Manandhar, A., Thomson, P., Katuva, J., Hope, R. and Clifton, D.A. (2019) Combining Multi-Modal Statistics for Welfare Prediction Using Deep Learning. Sustainability, 11(22). 6312.
• Thomson, P., Bradley, D., Katilu, A., Katuva, J., Lanzoni, M., Koehler, J. and Hope, R. (2019) Rainfall and groundwater use in rural Kenya. Science of The Total Environment, 649: 722-730.
• Whitehead, P.G., Bussi, G., Peters, R., Hossain, M.A., Softley, L., Shawal, S., Jin, L., Rampley, C.P.N., Holdship, P., Hope, R. and Alabaster, G. (2019) Modelling heavy metals in the Buriganga River system: Impacts of tannery pollution control. Science of the Total Environment, 697. 134090.
• Foster, T., Willetts, J., Lane, M., Thomson, P., Katuva, J. and Hope, R. (2018) Risk factors associated with rural water supply failure: A 30-year retrospective study of handpumps on the south coast of Kenya. Science of The Total Environment, 626: 156-164.
• Hirpa, F.A., Dyer, E., Hope, R., Olago, D.O. and Dadson, S.J. (2018) Finding sustainable water futures in data-sparse regions under climate change: Insights from the Turkwel River basin, Kenya. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 19: 124-135.
• Hoque, S.F. and Hope, R. (2018) The water diary method – proof-of-concept and policy implications for monitoring water use behaviour in rural Kenya. Water Policy, 20(4): 725-743.
• Koehler, J., Rayner, S., Katuva, J., Thomson, P. and Hope, R. (2018) A cultural theory of drinking water risks, values and institutional change. Global Environmental Change, 50: 268-277.
• Shand, P., Darling, W.G., Smedley, P.L., Bath, A.H., Mather, J., Melo, T., Hinsby, K., Whitehead, P.G. and Hope, R. (2018) Professor W Mike Edmunds: a pioneer in applied hydrogeochemistry and champion of international collaboration. Hydrogeology Journal, 21(1): 351-356.
• Sinha, R., Gilmont, M., Hope, R. and Dadson, S. (2018) Understanding the effectiveness of investments in irrigation system modernization: evidence from Madhya Pradesh, India. International Journal of Water Resources Development.
• Whitehead, P.G., Bussi, G., Hossain, M.A., Dolk, M., Das, P., Comber, S., Peters, R., Charles, K.J., Hope, R., Hossain, S. (2018) Restoring water quality in the polluted Turag-Tongi-Balu river system, Dhaka: Modelling nutrient and total coliform intervention strategies. Science of The Total Environment, 631-632: 223-232.
• Colchester, F.E., Marais, H.G., Thomson, P., Hope, R. and Clifton, D.A. (2017) Accidental infrastructure for groundwater monitoring in Africa. Environmental Modelling and Software, 91: 241-250.
• Foster, T. and Hope, R. (2017) Evaluating waterpoint sustainability and access implications of revenue collection approaches in rural Kenya. Water Resources Research, 53(2): 1473-1490.
• Garrick, D.E., Hall, J.W., Dobson, A., Damania, R., Grafton, R.Q., Hope, R., Hepburn, C., Bark, R., Boltz, F., De Stefano, L., O'Donnell, E., Matthews, N. and Money, A. (2017) Valuing water for sustainable development. Science, 358(6366): 1003-1005.
• Foster, T. and Hope, R. (2016) A multi-decadal and social-ecological systems analysis of community waterpoint payment behaviours in rural Kenya. Journal of Rural Studies, 47(A): 85-96.
• Kovacs, E.K., Kumar, C., Agarwal, C., Adams, W.M., Hope, R.A. and Vira, B. (2016) The politics of negotiation and implementation: a reciprocal water access agreement in the Himalayan foothills, India. Ecology and Society, 21(2): 37.
• Hope, R. (2015) Is community water management the community’s choice? Implications for water and development policy in Africa. Water Policy, 17(4): 664-678.
• Koehler, J., Thomson, P. and Hope, R. (2015) Pump-priming payments for sustainable water services in rural Africa. World Development, 74: 397-411.
• Hall, J., Grey, D., Garrick, D., Dadson, S. and Hope, R. (2013) Preface. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 371(2002): 1-2. This is one article from the Theme Issue ‘Water security, risk and society’.
• Hope, R. and Rouse, M. (2013) Risks and responses to universal drinking water security. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 371(2002): 1-23. This is one article from the Theme Issue ‘Water security, risk and society’..
• Foster, T., Hope, R., Thomas, M., Cohen, I., Krolikowski, A. and Nyaga, C. (2012) Impacts and implications of mobile water payments in East Africa. Water International, 37(7): 788-804.
• Hope, R., Foster, T. and Thomson, P. (2012) Reducing risks to rural water security in Africa. Ambio, 41(7): 773-776.
• Hope, R.A., Foster, T., Money, A. and Rouse, M. (2012) Harnessing mobile communications innovations for water security. Global Policy, 3(4): 433-442.
• Thomson, P., Hope, R. and Foster, T. (2012) GSM-enabled remote monitoring of rural handpumps: a proof-of-concept study. Journal of Hydroinformatics, 14(4): 829-839.
• Thomson, P., Hope, R. and Foster, T. (2012) Is silence golden? Of mobiles, monitoring and rural water supplies. Waterlines, 31(4): 280-292.
• Vira, B., Adams, W., Agarwal, C., Badiger, S., Hope, R.A., Krishnaswamy, J. and Kumar, C. (2012) Negotiating trade-offs: making informed choices for ecosystem services. Economic and Political Weekly, XLVII(9): 67-75.
• Hope, R.A., Frost, P.G.H., Gardiner, A. and Ghazoul, J. (2009) Experimental analysis of adoption of domestic mopane worm farming technology in Zimbabwe. Development Southern Africa, 26(1): 29-46.
• Hope, R., Borgoyary, M. and Agarwal, C. (2008) Smallholder preferences for agri-environmental change at the Bhoj wetland, India. Development Policy Review, 26(5): 585-602.
• Hope, R.A., Jewitt, G.P.W. and Gowing, J.W. (2008) The contested future of irrigation in African rural livelihoods - analysis from a water scarce catchment in South Africa. Water Policy, 10(2): 173-192.

Book chapters

• Dadson, S.J., Penning-Rowsell, E.C., Garrick, D.E., Hope, R., Hall, J.W. and Hughes, J. (2019) Charting the World's Water Future? Chapter 20 in, Dadson, S.J., Garrick, D.E., Penning-Rowsell, E.C., Hall, J.W., Hope, R. and Hughes, J. (eds.) Water Science, Policy, and Management: A Global Challenge. John Wiley and Sons Ltd. pp. 363-366. ISBN: 9781119520603.
• Hope, R., Foster, T., Koehler, J. and Thomson, P. (2019) Rural Water Policy in Africa and Asia. Chapter 9 in, Dadson, S.J., Garrick, D.E., Penning-Rowsell, E.C., Hall, J.W., Hope, R. and Hughes, J. (eds.) Water Science, Policy and Management: A Global Challenge. John Wiley and Sons Ltd. pp. 159-179. ISBN: 9781119520603.
• Hope, R. (2017) A poor choice? Public policy, social choice and the right to water. In, Langford, M. and Russell, A.F.S. (eds.) The Human Right to Water. Cambridge University Press. pp. 601-602. ISBN: 9780511862601.
• Koehler, J., Thomson, P. and Hope, R. (2016) Mobilizing Payments for Water Service Sustainability. Chap. 6 in, Thomas, E.A. (ed.) Broken Pumps and Promises: Incentivizing Impact in Environmental Health. Springer International Publishing. pp. 57-76. ISBN: 978-3-319-28641-9.
• Hope, R. and Rouse, M. (2014) Risks and Responses to Universal Drinking Water Security. Ch. 39 in, Jägerskog, A., Swain, A. and Öjendal, J. (eds.) Water Security, Vol. 3: Water Security and Development. SAGE Publications Ltd. pp. 155-182. ISBN: 9781446293928. SAGE Library of International Security Series..
• Garrick, D. and Hope, R.A. (2013) Water security risk and response: the logic and limits of economic instruments. In, Lankford, B., Bakker, K., Zeitoun, M. and Conway, D. (eds.) Water Security - Principles, Perspectives and Practices. Routledge, London. 376 pp. ISBN: 978-0-415-53471-0.
• Edmunds, W.M. and Hope, R.A. (2010) Water sustainability and security in Africa. Chapter 7 in, Agyeman-Duah, I. (ed.) Pilgrims of the Night: Development challenges and opportunities in Africa. Ayebia Clarke Publishing Limited. 224 pp. ISBN: 9780956240156.
• Hope, R.A., Borgoyary, M. and Agarwal, C. (2009) Incentives that work for farmers and wetlands. In, Kumar, P. and Muradian, R. (eds.) Payment for Ecosystem Services. Oxford University Press, Delhi. 324 pp. ISBN: 9780195698749.

Reports

• McNicholl, D., Hope, R., Money, A., Lane, A., Armstrong, A., van der Wilk, N., Dupuis, M., Harvey, A., Nyaga, C., Womble, S., Favre, D., Allen, J., Katuva, J., Barbotte, T., Buhungiro, E., Thomson, P., and Koehler, J. (2019) Performance-based funding for reliable rural water services in Africa. Uptime consortium, Working Paper 1
• Foster, T. and Hope, R. (2018) A critical mass analysis of community-based financing of water services in rural Kenya.
• Foster, T. and Hope, R. (2018) Evaluating waterpoint sustainability and access implications of revenue collection approaches in rural Kenya.
• Foster, T., Hope, R. (2018) A multi-decadal and social-ecological systems analysis of community waterpoint behaviours in rural Kenya.
• Colchester, F.E., Greeff, H., Thomson, P., Hope, R. and Clifton, D.A. (2014) Smart Handpumps: A Preliminary Data Analysis. IET Appropriate Healthcare Technologies (AHT), London.. 1-4.
• Hope, R., Foster, T., Krolikowski, A. and Cohen, I. (2011) Mobile water payment innovations in urban Africa. School of Geography and the Environment and Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Saïd Business School, Oxford University, Oxford, UK. 35 pp.
• Hope, R., Foster, T., Money, A., Rouse, M., Money, N. and Thomas, M. (2011) Smart Water Systems. Oxford University, Oxford. 14 pp. Project report to UK DFID, April 2011.
• Mayers, J., Batchelor, C., Bond, I., Hope, R., Morrison, E. and Wheeler, B. (2009) Water ecosystem services and poverty under climate change: key issues and research priorities. International Institute for Environment and Development, London. 75 pp. ISBN: 978-1-84369-687-2. Natural Resource Issues, 17.

Other

• Hope, R.A. (2012) Mobile Water for Development and Growth. Global Policy, Comment and Opinion Blog, Wiley-Blackwell.