A water war is brewing over the Nile and its contested infrastructures like the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: this is what we often read in many media headlines. How do these narratives contribute to shape water conflict and cooperation? Which is the role played by scientific communication and technical knowledge in these processes?

During the seminar we will present and discuss the outcomes and preliminary findings of an action research involving journalists and researchers from different Nile basin countries. In particularly we will reflect on the methodology (the challenges of studying media in the Global south within a multidisciplinary and multinational team) and the preliminary findings of a content and discourses analysis about how the Nile is reported in the Egyptian, Ethiopian, Sudanese and international press.

Speakers: Tamer Abd Elkreem (University of Khartoum), Abeer R.Y. Abazeed (University of Leiden), Mekdelawit Messay Deribe and Meklit Berihun Melesse (Wageningen University), Lama El Hatow (Erasmus University Rotterdam-EUR), Yeshiwas Degu (University of Groningen), Emanuele Fantini (IHE Delft Institute for Water Education).