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water@leeds annual Confluence 2025

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water@leeds annual Confluence 2025

A big thank you to all who came along to share their water research at our Annual Confluence on 16th October. 

With 30 presentations showing the breadth and depth of water research taking place across the University, there was a lot of energy in the room!  

We welcomed 80 delegates keen to discover potential collaborations and discuss their research.  

Also on display was the water@leeds Virtual Museum showcasing poems, videos and artwork from different projects, created with our collaborator Victoria Vargas Downing.

Thank you to the team at Helix for hosting us, and Richard Grayson and Josie South for their help on the day. 

Agenda

10:00    Welcome from Prof Joseph Holden (water@leeds co-Director)

10:10    Associate Directors updates: Mission 1 (Prof Laura Carter) and Mission 2 (Prof Julia Martin-Ortega)

10:30  water@leeds Lightning Talks Session - 25 minutes

  • Aquatic invasions can exacerbate nutritional poverty, Josie South, School of Biology
  • Data Challenges: Managing Water-Borne Disease Risk in Cholera Endemic Regions of
    Bangladesh, Papiya Mazumdar, School of Politics and International Studies
  • The Heat is On! Fibre Optic geothermal testing of a Chalk Aquifer, Adam Booth, School of
    Earth and Environment
  • Sanitation, Flooding, and Climate Change - Learnings from Nairobi’s Informal Settlements,
    Kenya, James Wallace, School of Civil Engineering
  • Do Rivers Emit More Carbon When They Flow More?, Kulankana Theivendrarajah, School of
    Geography
  • Spatial planning for common hippos, why?, Hannah Lacy, School of Biology
  • Water Works: Visualising Water Contamination, Lynn Wray, School of English, now School of
    Earth and Environment
  • Aquactic Soundscape the oboe in nature: effect and impact, Jonathan Tobutt, School of
    Music
  • Waterways: Living with the River, John Wright, School of Performance and Cultural Industries

11:00 Associate Directors updates: Mission 3 (Dr Paul Hutchings) and Mission 4 (Prof Lee Brown)

11:20    water@leeds Lightning Talks Session  

  • Creating visuals to communicate water research, James McKay, School of Earth and
    Environment
  • Claws and Effect: Predicting Impacts of Invasive Crayfish on Aquatic Macroinvertebrates, Emma Baker, School of Biology
  • Correlating Emissions and Microbial Communities in Communal Wastewater Systems in West Java, Indonesia, Jack Dalton, School of Civil Engineering
  • Filling Africa’s early warning gap, Itzel San Roman Pineda, School of Earth and Environment
  • Microplastics in deep sea Sediments, Gangadhar Tambre, School of Geography
  • Expert review of Wikipedia articles with ICAS, Nick Sheppard, Library
  • Changes in land cover drive river flow modifications in central Chile, Rossana Escanilla Minchel, School of Geography
  • Unearthing Microplastics: A Global Review, Kelly O'Shea, School of Geography
  • High Impact Innovations Tackling Climate Change, Juan Candia Jorquera, Priestley Centre for Climate Futures
  • Climate & (coral) reefs, Maria Beger, School of Biology

12:00    Networking lunch and Virtual Museum experience

'More than water, knowledge confluence' – virtual exposition curated by Victoria Vargas-Downing (Geography & LAHRI)

13:00    water@leeds Lightning Talks Session 3  

  • From the Great Stink to the modern sewage scandal: why 19th-century sewers are failing 21st-century England, Ruth Sylvester, School of Civil Engineering
  • Sustainable Defluoridation of Groundwater in Tanzania, Thomas Robshaw, School of Chemical and Process Engineering
  • Mapping the Future of Mariculture: Using Machine Learning to Identify Suitable Sites in the Philippines, Ankitha Manohar, School of Earth and Environment
  • From Sludge to Energy for a Circular Economy, Khadija Al Balushi, School of Civil Engineering
  • Commercialisation of Academic Research, Daniel Paterson, Research and Innovation Service - Commercialisation Team
  • A climate crisis in the Caspian Sea, Simon Goodman, School of Biology
  • Restoring Peatland to when? - Revealing North Yorkshire’s Dynamic Heritage of Landscape Change, Alex Worsfold, School of History
  • The long arm of the claw: Crayfish invasion impacts on fish communities in Kruger National Park, James Hodson, School of Biology
  • Usefulness of Global Datasets for Refugee Flood Risk Management, Mark Trigg, School of Civil Engineering

13:30    Announcements  

13:40 Closing from Prof Martin Tillotson (water@leeds co-Director)

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Photographs by Mark Bickerdike.