A look into the experiences of J-WAFS - funded students attending World Water Week 2018
World Water Week
Water, Ecosystems and Human Development
Experts, practitioners, decision makers, business innovators, and young professionals from a range of sectors and professions convene annually at World Water Week in Stockholm to network, exchange ideas, foster new thinking, and develop solutions to today's pressing water challenges.
This year, more than 3,600 participants from 133 countries convened at the conference, which focused this year on the theme, "Water, ecosystems, and human development." The week-long event is one of the most prominent gatherings of water researchers, professionals, and policy makers seeking to secure the worlds’ water resources as the key to future prosperity.
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J-WAFS Fellows and Water Leader Travel Grant Winners
J-WAFS and our Research Affiliate Xylem Inc., supported the participation of four MIT graduate in Stockholm World Water Week. While coming from different MIT degree programs and academic perspectives, they all share a focus on improving how we use our limited water resources.
J-WAFS Water Leader Travel Grant recipients:
Tiziana Smith, PhD candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Smith is currently working to develop a methodology that quantifies potential sustainable food production in China under water and land resource restraints, to determine “how many people can China feed?”. She hopes to develop policies that balance the needs of people and ecosystems in light of a growing human population.
Haleemah Qureshi, a 2018 graduate of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning with a masters in city planning. Qureshi's graduate research focused on water shut-offs in American cities as she studied the financing and funding structures for Baltimore’s water utility in order to better our understanding of the history of ruptured utility-community relations. She brings expertise from her background of working on water resource management issues at engineering consulting firms.
J-WAFS Water Solutions Fellow:
Andrea Beck:, a PhD candidate in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Beck's research examines how transnational water operators’ partnerships (WOPs) could provide an alternative approach for strengthening public water and sanitation utilities in developing countries.
Xylem- and J-WAFS-supported MIT Research Assistant:
Hilary Johnson, PhD candidate in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. Johnson’s graduate work—supported through J-WAFS’ Research Affiliate Program—focuses on improving the efficiency of industrial-scale pumps that deliver water for municipal and commercial use.
(Photo credit: Tiziana Smith)
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Inspiring Workshops
These students had the opportunity to engage with water sector leaders from across the globe through workshops that took a variety of perspectives on global water systems topics and challenges.
Hydrologic Observation Data and Good Governance: Scientists, local governments representatives, youth organizers and others highlighted the importance of community participation and data sharing by operationalizing transparency and accountability.
Sex and Water: A Woman's Right Violation: This eye-opening session led by the UNDP-SIWI Water Governance Facility and the African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation. The session addressed the problem of women being subject to sexual harassment or abuse in exchange for water in developing countries.
Operations and Maintenance (O&M) of water/sanitation systems in both rural and urban areas: Six organizations, including the German initiative Sustainable Urban Partnerships, spoke about various O&M services they provide. Participants were able to learn one-on-one from the various organizations and their methods of O&M with focuses ranging from technology to capacity building.
Each day was full of even more thought-provoking panels and workshops than those highlighted here. Haleemah reported that "The conference has been extremely rich and diverse in many ways"
(Photo credit: Tiziana Smith)
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Hands-on Learning
In addition to hearing from speaker presentations and panel discussions, our students each had the opportunity to participate in break-out sessions, solutions brainstorming, and other hands-on interactions where they could share their research and expertise while learning about practical applications and practitioners’ perspectives.
(Photo credit: Haleemah Qureshi)
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Tour of Xylem Facility
Xylem Inc. organized a tour through their local facility for the MIT students.
They also were invited to join a lunch with the Xylem executive team. This is a truly unique opportunity; it’s not every day that student researchers are able to meet and build relationships with senior leadership at the largest and most forward-thinking water technology company in the world. Also at the lunch were high school Junior Water Prize Finalists who challenged the company with inspiring and tough questions, such as about inclusion and affordability of water technology by particularly vulnerable communities in different parts of the world. Our MIT students found it encouraging to see the Junior Water Prize finalists focusing on the technological part of the problem, yet also grappling with different aspects of the solution.
(Photo credit: Tiziana Smith)
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Making Lasting Connections
World Water Week convenes experts from all over the world, giving our MIT students the opportunity to interact with a range of people across the diverse water sector.
The students noted that the number of events and meetings had the potential to become overwhelming at such a large conference. But each was able to participate in a unique mix of panels, workshops, and personal interactions with prominent members of the water field, keeping the Stockholm event rich and rewarding.
(Photo credit: Tiziana Smith)
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Engaging with Global Water Leaders
Several in the group had the chance to reconnect with former colleagues and peers. Others made connections at NGOs and organizations that could prove helpful as they further their research or enter the job market. Among the individuals the MIT students engaged with were several influential water leaders:
- The director for the World Bank Group's Water Global Practice;
- Microsoft’s Global Water Program Manager;
- Data analysts from the World Research Institute;
- The CEO and prominent members of Xylem;
- The Director of Water Resources for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission;
- Representatives from the Global Water Operators' Partnerships Alliance; and many more.
- Beyond making connections with these prominent
Beyond making connections with these prominent individuals and networking with potential employers, our students remarked on the benefits that come from the unique opportunity the conference provided to spend every day with other young professionals with similar interests in water. Haleemah noted the Young Professional Development session where they focused on the challenge of internal and external biases which hinder young professionals from asserting their influence and expertise.
(Photo credit: Haleemah Qureshi)
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Lasting Influence
These MIT students had quite a week in Stockholm. They gathered knowledge, brainstormed, networked and experienced every aspect World Water Week had to offer.
The panels and workshops left lasting impressions. From the need for greater women representation in utility leadership, to the need for policy changes at publicly owned and managed water sanitation facilities, the event provided many learning opportunities that our students will use to inform their future careers.
"During World Water Week, I was inspired by the new thinking around the role that urban water and sanitation utilities can play in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6" [Andrea Beck]
"The conference has been extremely rich and diverse in many ways" [Haleemah Qureshi]
"I would hope that in the future, there is less of a divide between water work in developed and developing regions, as people in the US could definitely learn from lessons that have been applied elsewhere, especially when it comes to improving the living conditions of vulnerable populations" [Haleemah Qureshi]
"It was a great opportunity to understand the different players in the field and to understand how they relate." [Tiziana Smith]
(Photo credit: Tiziana Smith)
Credits:
Created with images by qimono - "earth globe moon" • Alexas_Fotos - "peacock feathers plumage iridescent"