Partnerships
Mission 2: Enhance and develop partnerships with global and local organisations to maximise the value of water research
water@leeds projects bring together faculties from across the University including engineers, physical scientists, and social scientists to find solutions to global water issues.
water@leeds interdisciplinary projects also include partnerships with a wide range of people and business that will help both to further research for all parties involved, as well as providing the necessary tools to train the next generation of researchers.
Partnerships Highlights 2025-2026
water@leeds is playing a major role in European water innovation ecosystem, EIT Water
Leeds will be the UK and Ireland’s headquarters for a new European Knowledge and Innovation community that will tackle water scarcity, droughts and floods. The new community called EIT Water brings together Europe’s best minds from businesses, research centres and higher education institutes and water@leeds, will play a key role in delivering EIT Water.
Directors Professor Joseph Holden and Professor Martin Tillotson said that water@leeds international reputation for working on major projects and experience in working with multiple stakeholders will deliver effective solutions for tackling the most urgent water challenges facing the continent. water@leeds will be the central UK partner as well as being the host of the UK and Ireland’s Co-location Centre providing opportunity for water@leeds to work with other universities and businesses across Europe to ensure water resources are sustainable in the long term. Read more about water@leeds role in EIT Water
AquaRoots: Rooting Shrimp Farming in Biodiversity for Climate Resilience and Food Security
AquaRoots is an interdisciplinary UK–Mexico collaboration led by the University of Leeds that will develop and evaluate biodiversity-based silvoaquaculture systems integrating mangrove restoration, sustainable shrimp production, and community-led environmental monitoring.
By combining ecological restoration, food systems research, nutritional assessment, citizen science, and participatory governance, the project will generate robust scientific evidence to support climate-resilient aquaculture while enhancing biodiversity conservation and local livelihoods. Working closely with government agencies, academic institutions, Indigenous Yoreme-Mayo communities, women's cooperatives, and aquaculture producers, AquaRoots will co-design scalable nature-based solutions and decision-support tools that strengthen food security, improve coastal ecosystem resilience, and inform policy for sustainable blue economies in Mexico and beyond. Read more about this project.
New Global Research Initiative to Transform Alcohol Industry Waste into Regenerative Soil Solutions
An ambitious new international project aims to convert waste from the global alcohol industry into valuable, sustainable agricultural resources.
water@leeds Associate Director Professor Laura Carter (School of Geography) working with Dr Carlos Moreno-García and Dr John Brown from Robert Gordon University secured funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to lead SABER: Sustainable Alcohol By-product Enhancement for Regenerative Soils (2025-2027).
Bringing together experts from the United Kingdom, Mexico, New Zealand, and Spain, along with representatives from major global alcohol producers, the project seeks to strengthen international cooperation in sustainable resource management and advance a circular economy approach that crosses borders. Read more about this project.
West Yorkshire Flood Innovation Programme
A collaborative, innovative programme to reduce the impact of flooding and climate change in the region.
The five Lead Local Flood Authorities in West Yorkshire have launched an innovative programme to enhance the region’s resilience to flooding and climate change. The initiative is delivered in partnership with the Environment Agency and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, and is supported by a range of local stakeholders, including academic institutions, community groups, third-sector organisations, and Yorkshire Water.
The water@leeds team at iCASP provides scientific leadership, ensuring that the latest research is embedded in the techniques employed across the region, while also developing and delivering an evaluation framework. Partners successfully bid for £160k local levy funding from the Yorkshire Regional Flood and Coastal Committee to get the programme started. Read more about this project.
UN Engagement and Water Governance (2025-2026)
Led by Professor Julia Martin-Ortega, with Dr Gabriel López Porras (Cheney Fellow) and Dr Joshua Cohen, this programme of work contributes to United Nations debates on sustainable water governance, human rights, and living in harmony with nature.
Arriving to Leeds as a water@leeds Cheney Fellow in 2024, Dr López Porras explored the limitations of current approaches to Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) under Sustainable Development Goal 6, examining how water governance can better support coexistence between people and the natural world. The research seeks to identify alternative governance principles that recognise diverse values of water and advance more transformative pathways towards sustainability.
The programme has engaged directly with international policy processes, including attending the 24th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York, where the team contributed to discussions on Living Well with Nature and the recognition of plural values for water. It has also supported dialogue between research and policy through the water@leeds hosting of Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation, fostering collaboration on water governance and human rights.
Building on these activities, Professor Martin-Ortega participated in the High-Level Preparatory Meeting for the 2026 UN Water Conference in Dakar, contributing to global efforts to strengthen political commitment and ambition for international water action.
In 2026, water@leeds convened leading UK and international experts to explore the future of the UN Harmony with Nature Programme, reinforcing water@leeds' role as a hub for interdisciplinary dialogue on environmental governance. The event highlighted emerging approaches centred on the Rights of Nature, Indigenous knowledge, and innovative concepts such as Riverkin, which reimagine relationships between people and rivers. Together, these activities position water@leeds at the forefront of international discussions on water governance, sustainability, and transformative environmental change.