Patrick Thomson is Lead Researcher for the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment’s Water Programme, at Oxford University. His research focuses on the use of technology and improved data to enable institutional change and improve health outcomes in the rural water sector. Patrick invented and developed the first ‘Smart Handpump’ and leads the continuing technical evolution and operational implementation of the Smart Handpumps research. Patrick holds a patent for using the Smart Handpumps technology for aquifer depth estimation and pump failure prediction.
Patrick is part of the team at Oxford that developed the FundiFix model for rural water service delivery, which has spawned two small enterprises in Kenya, and designed the structure for the Water Services Maintenance Trust Funds, that have since been registered in Kenya to finance rural water services. Before to returning to at the UK 2010, Patrick worked for The HALO Trust for five years, living variously in Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and the Caucasus region. A Chartered Engineer, he started his professional life in the aerospace industry.
Patrick is currently writing up his part-time PhD at the University of Reading, which examines water use dynamics and the health effects of water supply intermittency in rural areas. For more information visit his website and follow him @patrickgthomson.
Recent Publications:
- Dadson, S.J., Hirpa, F., Thomson, P., Konar, M. (2019). Monitoring and Modelling Hydrological Processes. In Dadson, S.J. (Ed.), Water Science, Policy and Management: A Global Challenge. Wiley, pp. 117-137. ISBN: 9781119520627.
- Charles, K.J., Nowicki, S., Thomson, P., Bradley, D. (2019). Water and Health. In Dadson, S.J. (Ed.), Water Science, Policy and Management: A Global Challenge Wiley, pp. 97-116. ISBN: 9781119520627.
- Hope, R., Foster, T., Koehler, J., Thomson, P. (2019). Rural Water Policy in Africa and Asia. In Dadson, S.J. (Ed.), Water Science, Policy and Management: A Global Challenge. Wiley, pp. 159-179. ISBN: 9781119520627.
- Ferrer, N., Folch, A., Lane, M., Olago, D., Katuva, J., Thomson, P., Jou, S., Hope, R., Custodio, E. (2019). How does water-reliant industry affect groundwater systems in coastal Kenya? Science of The Total Environment, 694, p.133634.
- Greeff, H., Manandhar, A., Thomson, P., Hope, R., Clifton, D. A. (2019). Distributed Inference Condition Monitoring System for Rural Infrastructure in the Developing World. IEEE Sensors Journal, 19(5), pp.1820–1828.
- Thomson, P., Bradley, D., Katilu, A., Katuva, J., Lanzoni, M., Koehler, J., Hope, R. (2019) Rainfall and groundwater use in rural Kenya. Science of The Total Environment, 649: 722-730.
- Nowicki, S., Lapworth, D.J., Ward, J.S.T., Thomson, P., Charles, K. (2019) Tryptophan-like fluorescence as a measure of microbial contamination risk in groundwater. Science of The Total Environment, 646: 782-791.
- Foster, T., Willetts, J., Lane, M., Thomson, P., Katuva, J., Hope, R. (2018) Risk factors associated with rural water supply failure: A 30-year retrospective study of handpumps on the south coast of Kenya. Science of The Total Environment, 626: 156-164.
- Koehler, J., Rayner, S., Katuva, J., Thomson, P., Hope, R. (2018) A cultural theory of drinking water risks, values and institutional change. Global Environmental Change, 50: 268-277.