On 1 December 2025, Daniele Rossi Doria successfully defended his PhD thesis investigating Water User Associations (WUA) as instruments to decentralize water management, promote farmers’ participation and reduce irrigation system maintenance costs in rural Morocco.
In his research, Rossi Doria investigated how local farmers appropriate or reject WUAs and how local communities reshape and repurpose WUA through micro-level negotiation and institutional bricolage processes.
He argued that when accepted by farmers locally, WUAs may support a wide range of community-based needs and may become significant innovation platforms.