Let's talk about water

Whetting appetites for Bath's water research

Topic: WIRC @ Bath

Water in South Africa

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📥  WIRC @ Bath

This July sees the next talk in the monthly 'Water Colloquium' series organised by WIRC @ Bath exploring the breadth of water research being undertaken at the University of Bath and beyond.

Title: Water in South Africa: Devastating droughts, population expansion, climate change, poor governance, energy and food shortages and macro-pollutants

Speaker: Associate Professor Craig Sheridan

Craig Sheridan

When: Thursday 20th July 2017 at 1.15pm

Where: Room 3.30, Building 1 West, University of Bath (Location and maps)

Abstract: In this presentation Craig will paint the picture of how society impacts water and how water impacts society in the context of South Africa. A society with elements of the best and worst of the developed and developing worlds. He will also present some of the research that his group is doing, showing the links from treating poor water quality to opportunities for producing energy.

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Phosphorus - too much of a good thing

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📥  WIRC @ Bath

The following post was contributed by Ana Lanham, Lecturer in Water Science and Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering.

Phosphorus management is an imminent and very serious issue considering the fact that it’s both an irreplaceable and vital nutrient and one of the main contributors to eutrophication of water bodies across the UK and in the world.

Controlling phosphorus levels in treated wastewater discharges is increasingly becoming vital to the UK Water industry as regulatory limits are dropping from 1-2 mg/L to 0.5 mg/L in the current Asset Management Plan (AMP6) and potentially to 0.1 mg/L in AMP7.

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WISE CDT Summer School 2017

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📥  WISE CDT

The third WISE CDT Summer School was held on 19-23 June 2017. Staff and students enjoyed a week-long stay at the Vale Resort Hotel, a 650 acre estate in South Glamorgan, near Cardiff. Students from the four universities and representing Cohorts 2 and 3 worked together, had fun on social activities, and listened to high profile speakers from the Water Industry and Academia.

Site Visit - Cardiff Barrage

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New WISE CDT PhD students

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📥  WIRC @ Bath, WISE CDT

We are delighted to welcome four new PhD students who are joining WIRC @ Bath, having successfully completed the WISE CDT Postgraduate School at Exeter. Here are some short biographies and information on their research topics and supervisors:

Dolores Gonzales

PhD Project: Biosensors for water quality monitoring: sensor development and signal processing

Supervisors: Dr Mirella Di Lorenzo and Prof Petra Cameron

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International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste Management

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📥  WISE CDT

The following blog post was contributed by Ioannis Markidis, WISE CDT student at the University of Bath.

From the 21st to 24th of June 2017, Ioannis Markidis attended the 5th International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste Management in Athens, Greece. The Conference brought together scientists & professionals from government departments, industries, Municipalities, private institutions and research & education institutions.  Ioannis presented an oral paper on his PhD research entitled “Anaerobic digestion of sewage and domestic wastes. How small can it be?”, with co-authors Dr Marta Coma and Dr Tom Arnot.

Ioannis Markidis

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Experimental work in University College London

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📥  WISE CDT

The following blog post was contributed by WISE CDT student Ioanna Stamataki from the University of Bath who spent six weeks in University College London (UCL) undertaking her experimental work.

The last six weeks have been a bit of a blur – so intense and full of new experiences and knowledge that sometimes I am wondering if it actually happened. During my time in UCL, I was based in CEGE, the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at UCL, but I was using the shared Civil and Mechanical Engineering fluids laboratory based in Mechanical Engineering.

Wilkins Main Building, UCL

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Spring workshops

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📥  WIRC @ Bath, WISE CDT

The following blog post was contributed by Olivia Bailey, a WISE CDT PhD Resarcher in the Department of Chemical Engineering.

British Water: Off-mains Sewerage

In March I attended a workshop offered by British Water to address the options and challenges for off-mains sewerage in the UK. There were informative talks and some lively discussions from many stakeholders in the off-main sewerage world. The Environment Agency gave an overview of legislation regarding wastewater discharge in rural communities and approaches to tackling catchment pollution. Treatment consultants made the case for the good design and installation of septic as well as the need for package treatment plants. Finally, a representative for the National Trust spoke to us of the challenges and great responsibilities that come with managing the sewage of our beautiful, historic properties. The quote of the day came from one speaker who made the enlightened assessment that

‘mankind has come so far with technology over the years but still we are content to flush our toilets into a leaky trench’.

All in all, it was a very educational day in which a wide variation of off-mains stakeholders gathered in one room to work towards a common goal – the safe disposal of our sewage.

European Water Innovation Lab (WIL) (more…)

 

The Young Water Professionals conference: made by YWPs for YWPs!

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📥  WIRC @ Bath

The following blog post was contributed by Ana Lanham from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Marta Coma from the Department of Chemistry.

The Water Sector recognised some years ago that it was ageing and that it needed fresh talent if it was going to solve the important challenges looming ahead. With this in mind, the International Water Association (IWA), the largest international network of water professionals with members in 130 countries, began to actively push for higher visibility and empowerment of Young Water Professionals (YWP). The UK YWP Chapter is one of the strongest in the world. Its annual conference is one of the largest gatherings of YWPs and is unique in the UK for offering a tailored conference for professionals emerging in the water industry. The conference, now in its 18th year, has been growing sustainably ever since its inception in 1999 and this year attracted a record of almost 200 participants to think about how to achieve the vision of “A Water World without Boundaries”. Organised by the University of Bath as part of its 50th anniversary festivities, together with partners such as Black & Veatch, Wessex Water, The Foundation for Water Research, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institution for Chemical Engineers (IChemE), it brought together speakers and participants from academia and industry, from the UK and abroad. The scientific and organising committee involved more than twenty early career and senior professionals to deliver a program packed with presentations, workshops, discussions, new ideas and opportunities for career development.

ywp7

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Bath successfully hosts first ever UK Wetskills event

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📥  WIRC @ Bath

The following blog post was contributed by Chrysoula Papacharalampou from the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

The Water Innovation & Research Centre (WIRC @ Bath) in collaboration with the Wetskills Foundation, have successfully organised the first ever UK edition of the Wetskills Water Challenge.

The Wetskills Water Challenge is a pressure-cooker program for students and young professionals from across the world with a passion for water. It aims to promote cross-sectoral collaboration and foster potential new partnerships across Europe, by empowering knowledge and cultural exchange.

Team work and mentoring is at the heart of Wetskills – participants discuss their projects with experts from the University of Bath and Wessex Water.

Team work and mentoring is at the heart of Wetskills – participants discuss their projects with experts from the University of Bath and Wessex Water.

For the UK edition, we had the pleasure to host a group of 12 talented young water professionals from multiple cultural and scientific backgrounds. They worked in transdisciplinary teams and formed innovative solutions for real-world challenges, such as flooding prevention, stakeholder engagement and resilient urban planning.

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The Future of UK Coastal Research

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📥  Water, Environment and Infrastructure Resilience, WIRC @ Bath

The following blog post was contributed by Chris Blenkinsopp from the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering.

The 13th UK Young Coastal Scientists and Engineers Conference (YCSEC) was held at Bath on 11-12th April as part of the University’s 50th Anniversary celebrations organised by the Water, Environment and Infrastructure Resilience (WEIR) research group and WIRC @ Bath.  The goal of the conference is to provide a unique opportunity for leading young coastal scientists and engineers working in academia and industry throughout the UK to present their work and network with their peers.  Building on the success of previous conferences, the 13th YCSEC brought over 60 early career researchers and practitioners from more than 30 UK and overseas universities, research institutes and companies together for two days of fascinating presentations and exciting discussions.

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