Luke Juran

Research Interests: 

• Human Ecology of Water;  WASH;  PoU Treatment
• Hazards & Disasters;  Disaster Reconstruction
• India;  South Asia;  Gender;  Development

My research examines human-environment interactions, primarily in the international context. My specific research interests are threefold: human interactions with water resources; human interactions with disaster processes; and human interactions with coupled water-disaster constructs. I am particularly interested in access to water and sanitation services and the reconstruction of water and sanitation infrastructure after disasters.

Much of my experience is in India, but I have also worked, conducted, and/or supervised research in Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Italy, Malawi, Mexico, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, for the Republic of Mauritius on behalf of the CDC, and for the State of Iowa. My current projects examine community-level water security in South India and the deployment of a WASH behavior change intervention in Bihar, India. These projects involve water quality testing, household surveys, and statistical and geospatial analyses.

My teaching explores dynamics of socio-ecological relationships--often from a critical perspective--with content from our backyard in Virginia to far reaches of the globe. Feel free to contact me at ljuran@vt.edu or via my personal webpage to discuss educational and research opportunities.

Dr. Luke Juran holds an appointment as Associate Professor of Human Ecology of Water at the Virginia Water Resources Research Center. Juran is also an Affiliated Faculty at the Center for Coastal Studies and Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, and Arthropod-borne Pathogens in the Fralin Life Sciences Institute.

Courses: 

• Water, Environment & Society (GEOG/WATR 2004)
• Environmental Problems, Population & Development (GEOG 3104)
• Interdisciplinary Issues & Ethics in Water Resources (GEOG/GEOS 4134)
• Advanced Interdisciplinary Issues & Ethics in Water Resources (GEOG 5134 / GEOS 5844)

Select Publications: 

L. Juran, R. Oliver, D.C. Read (In Press). Water sector reconstruction for post-disaster housing settlements: a tale of two governance models. In Resilient water management strategies in urban settings: innovations in decentralized water infrastructure systems, T. Younos, J. Lee, T. Parece (eds.). Switzerland: Springer Water.

Prince, B.C., L. Juran, V. Sridhar, A. Bukvic, M.C. MacDonald (2021). A statistical and spatial analysis of water poverty using a modified Water Poverty Index. International Journal of Water Resources Development 37(2): 339-356.

Scott, V., L. Juran, E.J. Ling, B. Benham, A. Spiller (2020). Assessing strontium and vulnerability to strontium in private drinking water systems in Virginia. Water 12(4):  doi:10.3390/w12041053.

Aksha, S.K., L.M. Resler, L. Juran, L.W. Carstensen (2020). A geospatial analysis of multi-hazard risk in Dharan, Nepal. Geomatics, Natural Hazards & Risk 11(1): 88-111.

L. Juran, E.A. Adams, S. Prajapati (2019). Purity, pollution, and space: barriers to latrine adoption in post-disaster India. Environmental Management 64(4): 456-469.

Aksha, S.K., L. Juran, L.M. Resler, Y. Zhang (2019). An analysis of social vulnerability to natural hazards in Nepal using a modified Social Vulnerability Index. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science 10(1): 103-116.

Sherry, J., L. Juran, K.N. Kolivras, L.H. Krometis, E.J. Ling (2019). Perceptions of water services and innovations to improve water services in Tanzania. Public Works Management & Policy 24(3): 260-283.

Juran, L. (2018). Disaster, development, and water: the reconstruction and (re)fabrication of hazardous waterscapes in post-tsunami India. In The Asian tsunami & post-disaster aid, S. Reddy (ed.), pp. 79-99. Singapore: Springer Nature.

Adams, E.A., L. Juran, I. Ajibade (2018). ‘Spaces of exclusion’ in community water governance: a feminist political ecology of gender and participation in Malawi’s urban water user associations. Geoforum 95: 133-142.

Aksha, S.K., L. Juran, L.M. Resler (2018). Spatial and temporal analysis of natural hazard mortality in Nepal. Environmental Hazards 17(2): 163-179.

Juran, L., M.C. MacDonald, N.B. Basu, S. Hubbard, R. Rajagopal, P. Rajagopalan, L. Philip (2017). Development and application of a multi-scalar, participant-driven Water Poverty Index in post-tsunami India. International Journal of Water Resources Development 33(6): 955-975.

Juran, L. & K. Lahiri-Dutt (2017). Waterscapes in transition: changing uses and perceptions of water in middle class homes in Kolkata, India. Water History 9(4): 433-451.

MacDonald, M.C., L. Juran, J. Jose, S. Srinivasan, S.I. Ali, K.J. Aronson, K. Hall (2016). The impact of rainfall and seasonal variability on the removal of bacteria by a point-of-use drinking water treatment intervention in Chennai, India. International Journal of Environmental Health Research 26(2): 208-221.