Category: Homepage News

PhD students invited to an International L’Eau Down with GWF and WSA

hannah

All invited! come and join the GW4 Water Security Alliance on June 7th 2021, for the next in our series of international water research presentations with our Canadian partners at Global Water Futures Young Professionals. This is our third event; and we are keen to engage more PhD students studying in all areas of water science, to come and share ideas about our research and gain new collaborations from across the pond. Get in touch with Andy Schofield: gw4water@cardiff.ac.uk to find out more and attend.

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Water, Infrastructure and Extreme Events Workshops

hannah

The WSA’s Water, Infrastructure and Extreme Events Special Interest Research Group will be hosting workshops during May, to help better connect stakeholders with GW4 researchers in addressing the impact of extreme events on managed assets and infrastructure, in the region.  The workshops are:

5 May 2021: Urban Planning – focusing on Cardiff City Council’s concerns about future flood risk;
17 May 2021: Transport – involving Network Rail and Highways England, looking at the resilience of transport infrastructure;
26 May 2021: Water Sector Infrastructure – involving South West Water, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, and Wessex Water. 

Read more about these events.


If you would like to participate in any of the above please email a.schofield@gw4.ac.uk

Winners of Ofwat Innovation in Water Challenge announced

hannah

Ofwat have announced the winners of its inaugural Innovation in Water challenge competition. Eleven collaborative projects will receive up to £250k each to tackle the biggest issues facing the water sector in England and Wales. Of the 11 successful projects, 7 involve local water companies – Bristol Water, Dŵr Cymru (Welsh Water), South West Water and Wessex Water – and two involve researchers at Cardiff University and the University of Exeter. Congratulations! For information about the projects and details of a ‘winners talk’ on the 5 May, see here. Details of the the next Ofwat Challenge can be found below.

WSA Webinars engage global audience

hannah

Despite the Water Security Alliance operational team having been in existence for less than 2 years, they are making huge strides in the development of a global network of supporters.

Since launching in October 2020 the WSA’s Friday afternoon Webinar series has attracted nearly 500 subscribers globally, with 41 different countries connected via the Alliance. Twenty-two presentations have been received this academic year with contributors from Sri Lanka, Iran, Canada, Ghana and Italy as well as GW4 institutions and stakeholders. If you have missed a presentation you can watch recordings here.

Come and join us…
The webinars are open to all! view the programme and register here. 

AQUA~360 Conference – Abstract deadline extended!

hannah

The deadline for abstract submissions for the AQUA 360 Conference is being extended until 15th May 2021. A diverse range of submissions from different themes have already been received and organisers would love to receive yours – if you have not had a chance to submit one yet.

AQUA360~Water for All; Emerging Issues and Innovations is being organised by the Centre for Water Systems, University of Exeter. The conference will be online and will take place from 31st August to 2nd September 2021. We have lined up 9 keynote lectures at the conference.

UN World Water Day – online events across the WSA 22-26 March 2021

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To celebrate United Nations World Water Day this year, you are warmly invited to participate in a series of online events taking place across the Water Security Alliance between 22 – 26 March 2021.

The theme of this year’s World Water Day, Valuing Water, is about what water means to people, its true value and how we can protect this vital resource. Join the conversation about what water means to you on social media by tagging your post with #WorldWaterDay #Water2me and @GW4Water

Tweet your Research

Join your fellow students and colleagues by tweeting a project poster or short video (1-3 minutes) of your water-related research on Twitter and tag in: #WorldWaterDay #Water2me @GW4Water

Monday 22 March 2021, all day

International l’eau Down: let’s discuss our research

Join Global Water Futures (GWF) and the GW4 Water Security Alliance for their first collaborative event for early career researchers.

This event will provide young researchers with the opportunity to network, informally share their research projects and get feedback.

Monday 22 March 2021, 10:00 – 11.00 ET; 16.00 – 17.00 GMT

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Hidden Water: Valuing Water We Cannot SEE

The Cabot Institute for the Environment at the University of Bristol is delighted to host this public event bringing together two leading researchers to discuss the value of ‘hidden water’ resources: groundwater and glaciers.

Dr Debra Perrone, University of California, will discuss her research which revealed millions of groundwater wells and strategies to protect them. Professor Jemma Wadham, Cabot Institute for the Environment, will discuss the impacts of glacier retreat in the Peruvian Andes and solutions to adapt to these changes. The session will be chaired by Dr Katerina Michaelides and Dr Rafael Rosolem, co-leads for water research at the Cabot Institute. There will be time for questions and discussion.

Monday 22 March 2021, 17:15 – 18:30 GMT

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Documentary Discussion: Flint – Who can you trust?

Cardiff Water Research Institute’s early-career group is delighted to invite you to its fifth virtual Documentary Discussion. The focus of the discussion will be on the documentary ‘Flint: Who can you trust‘ which explores the breakdown in public trust and the institutional racism that followed the lead contamination of the water supply in Flint, Michigan.

The session will be moderated by PhD student Elle von Benzon and will include Peter Stanley, Geotechnical Engineer at Natural Resources Wales and specialist in water and contaminated land, and Dr Adrian Healy – Future Leaders Fellow working on urban and regional resilience.

Wednesday 24 March 2021, 17:00 – 18:30 GMT

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WSA WEbinar: Managing the water we eat

Professor Stefan Uhlenbrook, Strategic Program Director for Water, Food & Ecosystems at the International Water Management Institute, will present this GW4 Water Security Alliance Friday webinar. To sign-up for this event, please register for the WSA webinar series below.

Friday 26 March 2021, 12:30 – 13:30 GMT

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Funding for a new CDT at Cardiff and Exeter

hannah

Exeter and Cardiff Universities and partners, have secured £3.5m for a new Centre for Doctoral Training, with funding from NERC, to research chemicals in the environment. The new centre, named ECORISC – Ecotoxicological Risk Assessment Towards Sustainable Chemical Use Centre for Doctoral Training – will fund 39 new PhD studentships with the support of 28 partners. Read more.

Royal Academy of Engineering Award for WSA Scientist’s Sewers4COVID project

hannah

Experts from the University of Exeter’s Centre for Water Systems have received a prestigious award for their exceptional engineering achievements in tackling COVID-19.

Professor Dragan Savic, Dr Lydia Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia, Professor Albert Chen, Dr Mehdi Khoury and Gareth Lewis have received the Royal Academy of Engineering President’s Special Award for Pandemic Service for their pivotal work in the Sewers4COVID project, that developed an orginal approach for early detection of the virus by analysing waste water. Read more.

FRESH CDT students win 1st place at the NERC COVID-19 Hackathon on ecosystems services

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Congratulations to the second Cohort of the GW4 FRESH Centre for Doctoral Training who came first in NERC Digital Sprints Hackathon this month! This specific Hackathon was focused on ecosystems services and seek to understand the impact of natural capital and ecosystem services on the spread of COVID-19. 

Their project ‘2FRESH2FURIOUS’ looked at how green spaces affect the rate of COVID-19 infections. They found that, in addition to being important for mental and physical wellbeing, access to green space was related to lower rates of infection and could provide resilience against the spread of the disease.

Find out more about their project here.

WSA scientists lead ‘DOWN2EARTH’ tackling African climate change resilience

hannah

The DOWN2EARTH project is led by WSA scientists at Cardiff University in collaboration with WSA academics from the University of Bristol, and 13 other partners in 7 countries. The project will employ state-of-the-art seasonal forecasts and decadal projections of climate change and translate this into clear and concise information that can be used by farmers and pastoralists, communities, NGOs and governments to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on rural livelihoods.

Read more

Dry land at sunset

Challenges of climate change and its impact on water resources for vulnerable regions

Anni Laihanen

The theme for this year’s World Water Day (22nd March) is ‘water and climate change’ and how the two are inextricably linked. Dr Michael Singer, Senior Lecturer in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences and Deputy Director of the Water Research Institute at Cardiff University explains how GW4 researchers, part of the GW4 Water Security Alliance, are helping to address the global challenge of climate change and its impact on water resources.

Read the full article

View of desert

Water scarcity challenges under climate change in East African drylands

Anni Laihanen

Dr Katerina Michaelides, Head of Dryland Research Group at the School of Geographical Sciences and Cabot Institute for the Environment, University of Bristol, writes for the Cabot Institute blog to celebrate World Water Day. Her research focuses on how climate and climate change translates into useable water in the ground in East African dryland regions, and how people use and access relevant information to make livelihood decisions towards adaptation.

Read the full article