Articles
Dr Kate Baker and her team.
Young Water Professionals Team Challenge: “Fancy Technology, but are the Public on Board?”
On 10th April 2019, ten teams comprising of young water professionals from throughout the UK presented their ideas on The Circular Economy in the Water Sector. The competition was organised by the Water Industry Forum and sponsored by Arcadis. It brought together young professionals from different organisations across the sector who had to identify and pitch an idea around this theme which they expect will be common practice within the water sector by 2030.
An independent panel of judges scored each team, looking at how well did the idea embody the principles of the circular economy, how innovative the idea was and what was the overall vision.
Dr Kate Baker, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Centre for Water Systems University of Exeter, along with her team, Emma Barcroft (Process Engineer, Jacobs), Victoria Collier (Graduate, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water) and Rhys Durham (Graduate Scientist, WRc plc) were highly commended for their presentation entitled “Fancy Technology, but are the Public on Board?”. Their pitch highlighted that for the circular economy to be successful in the water sector it vital for the public to be involved in the process - it is not enough to just focus on new technologies & systems. People and communities are fundamental in the change and projects need to be co-created and co-developed with the public alongside the academics and industry, an example of this is the EU funded NextGen project.
Date: 25 April 2019