Articles
Water Security is a vital issue
£74,000 grant for Water Security Alliance
Professor Zoran Kapelan and the Water and Environment group obtained a new grant from the GW4 Building Communities Programme at the end of 2016.
The Universities of Cardiff, Bristol, Bath and Exeter originally formed the Water Security Alliance in 2016 after being awarded funding from the same programme. Initial work focused on defining the scope and vision of the alliance. The same group has now received another £74,000 from the GW4 Accelerator Fund to establish the Water Security Alliance in the long term by bringing together research excellence, infrastructure and partnerships from four institutions. The goal is to foster new collaborations, engage with stakeholders and significantly enhance both the funding leverage of the four institutions. Water security has been identified by the World Economic Forum as one of the most significant long-term risks facing the world over the next decade and is an explicit theme for the Global Challenges Research Funding agenda.
There will be four key outputs. The first is to write and publish a scoping review on the theme to identify gaps in water, environmental and related research. The second is to bring together stakeholders to identify research needs in specific. There will also be a research grant proposal that would not be possible without the Alliance. Finally the alliance will identify training opportunities and propose training modules such as virtual classes or summer schools for staff, students or external.
Water Security Alliance has the potential to become the largest and most influential group of academics and stakeholders addressing water and environment related issues in the UK and internationally.
For additional information contact Prof. Zoran Kapelan (z.kapelan@exeter.ac.uk).
Date: 2 January 2017