Funding Approval Awarded for the FloodJustice Research Project
On 13 July 2026, the collaborative research project FloodJustice officially received its funding approval at the Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MUNV NRW) in Düsseldorf. The funding notice was presented by Minister Oliver Krischer during a ceremonial event.
FloodJustice is funded under the ERDF/JTF Programme North Rhine-Westphalia 2021–2027 and co-financed by the European Union and the Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. In total, six innovative projects, with a combined funding volume of almost €12 million, were selected to contribute to climate adaptation, sustainability, and regional transformation. The other funded projects include IndiKlimA, Climate-Resilient Regions OWL, KreisEL, AziBauM (Alliance for Circular Construction Münsterland), and Circular.NiederRhein.
During the event, each collaborative project presented its objectives and planned activities in a short project pitch.
Towards more equitable flood risk management in the Rur catchment
The FloodJustice project investigates how flood risks and socio-ecological vulnerability can be spatially assessed and how principles of justice can be systematically integrated into flood risk management.
The project partners are developing a GIS-based methodology that combines flood hazard information with socio-ecological vulnerability and potential secondary hazards. Building on this approach, the project will develop a Justice Assessment Framework ("Gerechtigkeitscheck") that enables the systematic evaluation of whether flood risks and flood protection measures are distributed fairly across space and society, or whether certain municipalities and population groups are disproportionately affected.
The project aims to provide municipalities, water authorities, and other stakeholders with scientifically sound decision-support tools to design flood risk management measures that are not only effective but also transparent and socially equitable.
Interdisciplinary collaboration
FloodJustice is a collaborative research project involving TU Dortmund University, RWTH Aachen University, the Aachen City Region, and the Water Association Eifel-Rur (WVER). By bringing together expertise in spatial planning, water management, and risk research, the consortium seeks to establish new scientific foundations for climate-resilient and equitable flood risk management.
