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.
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.
The event took place at the University’s Claverton campus over a period of two weeks (30th March - 12th April). It was supported by the Bath Institute of Mathematical Innovation (IMI), the University’s Alumni fund, Wessex Water Services Ltd, the Water Authority of Delfland, the European Water Traineeships and the Municipality of Westland. Expert input from across the UK water sector, including the Bath & North East Somerset Council and the Environment Agency, has assured the scientific robustness of the event’s outputs.
The winning team proposed a framework for ‘365 Days to Engaged Water Citizens’ and impressed the audience and the jury panel during the Wetskills pitch & poster session of the 18th UK-IWA Young Water Professionals conference.
The post-event evaluations from the participants show that the participants enjoyed the cultural tours and the team-building activities, whilst they highly appreciated the commitment of the organisers for ensuring the delivery of a high quality and demanding workshop.
Info: The Wetskills Water Challenge was first organised in 2010 and became an independent Foundation in 2015. Since 2010, 23 Wetskills events have been organised in 16 countries across the world with more than 450 participants and 100 universities and organisations involved.
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