Meet Bente Højlund Hansen, our YWPDK profile for March. Bente just started an Industrial PhD with COWI and DTU Civil Engineering.
What is your current work title and what is your background/degree?
As a consultant at COWI, I have worked with investigation and remediation of contaminated sites. However, as of February 1, I commenced an Industrial PhD with COWI and DTU Civil Engineering. With this study, I aim at developing a method for remediation of dissolved chlorinated solvents via establishment of electrochemical zones in the aquifers.
I graduated from DTU in 2014 as a M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering with specialization within contaminated sites and the groundwater resource. As part of the study, I did internship at Geosyntec Consultants in Canada.
What is your motivation for working with water?
It is highly motivating to work with preservation of the groundwater resource in that the human health and environment benefits from it. Personally, I really appreciate to have access to natural drinking water that does not taste of chlorine and at the same time does not contain carcinogenic contaminants.
What are your main interests within this field?
Sustainable means to protect and/or remediate the groundwater and surface waters to maintain a high quality of the drinking water and a healthier environment. In addition, I am very interested in urban development with integrated climate adaption.
What was your motivation for becoming a member of YWPDK and how did you hear about the network?
A forum like YWPDK is essential to pool efforts of the creative mind of young experts and various fields within the water sector to share knowledge and achieve innovative approaches to todays issues.
I heard about YWPDK through my network at DTU.
What are your thoughts on the challenges that we, as young water professionals, face in the coming years?
The field of water management is so complex that it calls for a broad range of skills to solve the issues that we face. Sometimes the solution is constrained due to the technological development while often due to conflicting political interests. Only via a holistic approach, we can create the best solution to the benefit of all of us. As part of this approach, I believe that we as young water professionals must be better at establishing teamwork including professions from outside of the water sector. Our limitations is that we cannot know everything and therefore we must be better at including other professions.
