UKRI GCRF Water Security and Sustainable Development Hub

The Water Security and Sustainable Development Hub is a five-year £17.7 million project improving water security for a resilient future.

The Hub brings together an international team from over 12 different countries to address threats to water security and contribute towards achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation).

Leeds is a key partner with UK-based universities Newcastle and Oxford, and four overseas collaboratories located in Colombia, Ethiopia, India and Malaysia. Together forming the Water Security and Sustainable Development Hub which is one of 12 hubs funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), as part of the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).

Each collaboratory reflects a unique and complex set of challenges concerning water security,  such as fragmented governance,  dysfunctional water management systems and limited institutional capacity.  The hub will be integral in combatting these challenges using a transdisciplinary coproduction approach which upholds the project’s vision of implementing transparency; equity, inclusion and diversity, and sustainability.

Keep up to date with Hub News here.

water@leeds researchers contributing their expertise to this project are:

• Dr Miller Alonso Camargo-Valero  School of Civil Engineering, former Associate Director water@leeds, evaluating resource recovery from wastewater and faecal sludge.
• Professor Barbara Evans School of Civil Engineering, focusing on sanitation, hygiene and water services in the global south.
• Dr Mark Trigg School of Civil Engineering, researching global water resource modelling and remote sensing datasets.
• Professor Anna Mdee School of Politics and International Studies, former Associate Director water@leeds, looking at institutional change, politics of impact, political ecology and co- production.
• Dr Andy Carr, Research Fellow in Global Water Resources, School of Civil Engineering
• Dr Lata Narayanaswamy School of Politics and International Studies, studying capacity-building, gender and development.
• Dr Carolina Montoya-Pachongo, Research Fellow in Water Safety and Risk Mapping
• Angela Bayona-Valderrama, PhD researcher in Drinking Water Quality and Risks, School of Civil Engineering
• Shivani Singhal PhD researcher, School of Politics and International Studies
• Johan Pasos Panqueva PhD researcher, School of Civil Engineering
• Tatiana Zuniga Burgos PhD researcher, School of Civil Engineering
• Jemma Phillips, PhD researcher, School of Civil Engineering
• Zhe Zan, PhD researcher, School of Civil Engineering
• Josh Cohen, Research Fellow, Water and Sanitation governance,  School of Performance and Cultural Industries
• Alesia Ofori, Research Fellow, Water and Sanitation governance, School of Politics and International Studies

Former Leeds team members:

• Dr Sarah Cooper,  School of Politics and International Studies, conducting research on policy and governance to achieve global water security.
• Mark Bernhofen, PhD researcher, School of Civil Engineering

The research’s multi-dimensional approaches will account for the mediating influences of political, social, economic, cultural and biophysical spheres which impact on human’s interaction with water. With the primary aim of improving water security for the poor and vulnerable and also to attain wider-reaching targets such as Sustainable Development Goal 6 aiming to provide clean water and sanitation for everyone.

Contact

Contact the GCRF Water Security Hub team in Leeds by emailing water@leeds.ac.uk or Dr Miller Alonso Camargo-Valero.

Follow the project on Twitter @GCRFWaterHub