Table Of ContentSOCIO-HYDROLOGICAL DYNAMICS IN BANGLADESH
Understanding the interaction between hydrological and social processes
along the Jamuna floodplain
Md Ruknul Ferdous
SOCIO-HYDROLOGICAL DYNAMICS IN BANGLADESH
Understanding the interaction between hydrological and social processes along the
Jamuna floodplain
ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT
ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor
aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam
op gezag van de Rector Magnificus
prof. dr. ir. K.I.J. Maex
ten overstaan van een door het College voor Promoties ingestelde commissie,
in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel
op woensdag 15 januari 2020, te 10:00 uur
door
Md Ruknul Ferdous
geboren te Dinajpur
Promotiecommissie:
Promotores: Prof. dr. M.Z. Zwarteveen Universiteit van Amsterdam
Prof. dr. G. Di Baldassarre Uppsala universitet
Copromotores: Dr. L. Brandimarte Kungliga Tekniska högskolan
Dr. A.J. Wesselink IHE Delft
Overige leden: Prof. dr. J. Gupta Universiteit van Amsterdam
Prof. dr. J.C.J.H. Aerts Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Prof. dr. P. van der Zaag IHE Delft / TU Delft
Prof. dr. P.J. Ward Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Dr. H. Kreibich GFZ Potsdam
Faculteit der Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen
To my parents Rezina Khatoon and late Alauddin Ahmed
CRC Press/Balkema is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020, Md Ruknul Ferdous
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am extremely grateful to Almighty for enabling me to complete my PhD research. I
would like to acknowledge and thank many people for their continuous help and support
while conducting my PhD research.
First of all, I would like to express my gratitude and respect to my supervisor and
promotor, Professor Margreet Zwarteveen, for giving me the opportunity to work as a
PhD student under her supervision. I am extremely grateful to Margreet for her
contribution from the beginning to the end of my PhD research. I learned a lot from
Margreet throughout the period as a PhD student. I thank her for her outstanding
supervision through her scientific knowledge and interest.
I would also like to express my gratitude and respect to my supervisor and co-promotor,
Professor Giuliano Di Baldassarre, for being with me during the entire period of my PhD
research. He also supervised my MSc thesis and this was the reason I undertook the PhD.
I am highly thankful and grateful to Giuliano for his support, guidance, enthusiasm and
valuable input in my PhD research. Without his kind support and guidance it would have
been impossible for me to finish my PhD.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude and heartfelt thanks to my co-supervisor, Dr.
Luigia Brandimarte for her interest and careful supervision and guidance right from the
beginning of my PhD research. She also supervised my MSc thesis and this was also the
reason I undertook the PhD. She helped me a lot in every aspect of my PhD research and
I learned a lot from Luigia throughout the period as a PhD student. This PhD thesis would
have been impossible without her unconditional inputs.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude and thanks to my co-supervisor, Dr. Anna
Wesselink, for her interest and continuous support from the beginning of my PhD
research. Without her kind support, guidance, enthusiasm to help and extreme tolerance
it would have been impossible for me to finish my PhD. I am grateful and thankful from
bottom of my heart to Anna for her immense contribution for my PhD research. I learned
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a lot from Anna throughout the period of my research as a PhD student. She was always
beside me during the entire period of my PhD research.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude and thanks to Dr. Michelle Kooy and
Professor Arthur Mynett for their interest and careful guidance at the beginning of my
PhD research. This PhD thesis would not have been possible without their unconditional
inputs during my PhD proposal development.
I am also thankful to Dr. Kymo Slager of Deltares for his cordial co-operation and
perceptive guidance for my PhD research. I express my heartfelt gratitude to him for his
unconditional help to write two scientific journal papers. I am really grateful to him.
I am thankful to Dr. Parvin Sultana and Dr. Paul Thompson of FHRC Bangladesh for
their cordial co-operation and guidance in developing my PhD proposal. I am also grateful
to them for helping me during field work at Bangladesh.
I express my heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Md Mahabubar Rahman, Mr. Md Enamul Haque
and Mr. Md Shahrier Islam of Gaibandha, Bangladesh, who were my field assistants in
Bangladesh. Without their support it would not have been possible for me to collect
household survey data. I am really grateful to them.
I express my sincere gratitude to CEGIS for providing hydrological data and satellite
images for my PhD research. I am really grateful to CEGIS for their help and support.
I am thankful to Mr. Sudipta Kumar Hore, Ms. Deeba Farzana Moumita and Mr.
Mohammad Saidur Rahman for their help and support to do satellite image analysis
during my PhD research. I am also thankful to Mr. Md Mizanur Rahman for allowing me
to use his MSc thesis data in my PhD research. I am really grateful to them.
I am grateful to NWO-WOTRO for funding my PhD research through the project “Hydro-
Social Deltas: Understanding flows of water and people to improve policies and strategies
for disaster risk reduction and sustainable development of delta areas in the Netherlands
and Bangladesh”. I also thank IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, the Netherlands
and University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands for hosting me during my PhD research
period.
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I am also grateful to all of my ex-colleagues and friends in Bangladesh to help and support
me during my PhD research. I am also thankful to all my colleagues and friends here in
the Netherlands for entertaining me during my stay in the Netherlands.
I would like to convey my immense love and gratitude to my beloved mother Rezina
Khatoon and my loving sisters Jannatul Ferdous and Bentul Mawa, my brother Zannatul
Adan, for their endless love, encouragement and inspiration without which I find
everything incomplete and barren. I also like to remember my late beloved father
Alauddin Ahmed for his endless love and affection for me. He always encouraged me and
showed me the right path.
Most importantly I thank from the inner core of my heart my beloved wife Shamrin
Rahman, who has taken all the burdens of my family during my entire PhD period here
in the Netherlands. She took care of our son and helped me to complete my work. It would
not have been possible for me to complete my PhD without her endless love,
unconditional support, patience, and blessings. I feel deeply indebted to her. I am also
blessed to have my son Sheaaf Ibrahim Ferdous with me here in the Netherlands. He is
always an inspiration to me. My tiredness vanishes with his smile and boosts energy for
my work.
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